Hansen on Board of Kurdistan School

State Board Report

December 2015

Gaylen R. Hansen (CO), NASBA Chair 2012-2013, has been named a Trustee of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, in Kurdistan. The school’s mission is to bring American-style, liberal arts higher education to Iraq and "has set American regional accreditation as a key institutional goal." CEA (the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation) has granted the University’s Academic Preparation Program a five-year accreditation (April 2015-2020). The University offers, among other programs, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, covering accounting, finance, economics, management, law and ethics, and quantitative analysis.

"The coolest thing about all of this is that the school has about 2,000 Sunnis, Shites and Kurds – and they all seem to get along," Mr. Hansen observed. "In particular, the fact that young women are getting an education for the first time in this part of the world is incredibly important. And they are all being given a liberal arts style of U.S. education that includes learning about democracy and governance principles."