Alumna to Co-Lead Westmont in Istanbul

Alumna Heather Keaney ’93 is back in Santa Barbara as assistant professor of history at Westmont, but in January she and husband, Jim Wright, venture back to the Middle East to co-lead Westmont in Istanbul. Keaney has spent the past 11 years living and teaching in Cairo at the American University in Cairo and at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities’ (CCCU’s) Middle East Studies Program (MESP).

At Westmont, Keaney earned a bachelor’s degree in history. “When I came to Westmont, I wanted to go into medicine — teaching seemed really boring,” she says. “I was going to be a missionary doctor in Africa and then I fell in love with history. My professors at Westmont had such a huge impact on me at the critical part in my life. I knew that I too wanted to be involved in that educational process in student’s lives.”

She earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in Middle East history at UC Santa Barbara, ending up in Cairo. “In many ways I ended up a missionary doctor in Africa

—  just not the way I had originally thought,” she says.

In Egypt, Keaney was the acting director of MESP in fall 2009, leading 30 students through Turkey, Syria and Israel-Palestine. She is enthusiastic about sharing her love and passion for the Middle East and its people. “There are great students at Westmont who are keen to learn and make a difference in the world, which is exactly why we signed up,” she says. “I am struck by the college’s mission to cultivate compassionate and informed students to make a different in the world. You can’t just run off and do good without understanding what the problems are.”

Twenty-two students have signed up for the semester abroad in the spring and are currently taking a two-unit orientation course. During Westmont in Istanbul in spring 2012, Keaney and Wright will teach Historical and Cultural Roots of Christianity, Faith and State in Modern Turkey, Community, Culture and Conflict in the Modern Middle East, and Engaging the Muslim World. The two co-lead the semester again in spring 2014.