APP Staff | The American University of Iraq Sulaimani

APP Staff

Rachel Gresk, Director of the Academic Preparatory Program

Ph.D. University of Nebraska-Lincoln
M.A. American University
B.A. St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Rachel Laribee Gresk is Director of APP and Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs at American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), located in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where she has been working since 2009. Rachel has extensive experience working in higher education administration and working in English language programs (ELP), having served as Director of the Academic Preparatory Program (APP) for the past ten years, before becoming Director of Academic Administration, and then moving into her role as the Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Rachel earned her PhD in Higher Education Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Her dissertation was on social-cognitive factors and the impact of environmental influences on student satisfaction. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., where she earned a master’s degree in international development; she has a Bachelor of Arts in Chinese from St. Mary’s College in Maryland.

Rachel was the self-study coordinator for her ELP’s Commission on English Language Accreditation (CEA) process, and is currently overseeing U.S. regional accreditation at AUIS. Rachel has presented at numerous Iraqi and international conferences, including ASHE and TESOL. She is a trained accreditation site reviewer with CEA.

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Stephne Churchill, Deputy Director of APP

PhD, Nova Southeastern University
MA, Nova Southeastern University
BA, University of Michigan

Email: [email protected]

Born and raised in South Africa in a family full of teachers, Stephne didn't start out in a career in Teaching. At first glance her fields of study and research may not seem related, but they have something in common. Language, Education and Human Rights. After completing a Higher Diploma in Human Resources, Industrial Relations and Labour Law, with a dual major in HIV/AIDS and the Law, she completed a Bachelors degree in Formal and Applied Linguistics, with specialization in Forensic Linguistics. Stephne followed up her Bachelors with a MSc in Education, with specialization in Teaching and Learning Languages - English. After that she did a PhD in Computing Technology for Education. She did research in Sociolinguistics, Labour Law, Human Rights, Technology and Education. My current research centres mostly on the Human Rights of Linguistics Minorities, Technology and Subject Integration across degrees and fields. Linguistic Genocide (Kurdish) is currently her main focus.
 

Ahmed Aram, APP Coordinator

Office: B-F2-37b. Ext: 1930.
Email: [email protected]

Ahmed Aram is an AUIS alumnus. He graduated in 2018. Ahmed is an IT major with a minor in Business Management. Though he graduated in 2018, he has more than three years of work experience, and has held reputable positions. Ahmed is in charge of managing students’ records mainly. Ahmed is always there to assist APP students with student-teacher interaction and help them access study tools if they have issues. Ahmed’s major interests in IT lies in CCTV, surveillance, and Video Management Software systems. He chose to work for AUIS because he enjoys the university and respects how it functions as a whole.

Pers Osman, APP Intern

Email: [email protected]

Pers joined AUIS in 2018 and is an Information Technology student with great interest in networking. He was eager to take advantage of the opportunity to become an APP intern and support AUIS staff members. Pers believes diversity is what makes the AUIS community so great and that interacting with so many people from different backgrounds has helped him learn new workplace skills. 
 

Hadi Ammar, APP Intern

Email: [email protected]

Hadi Ammar Al Noori joined AUIS in 2019. He is currently majoring in Business Administration, and planning for an IT minor. He hopes to further specialize in Banking. His tasks as an APP intern include Arabic-English translation, providing support to students from outside of Sulaimani, and assisting with APP events such as orientation and graduation.