Khan is combining his work for global education and acceptance with teaching and counseling.
As a Muslim growing up in a post-9/11 world, Reaz Khan ’13 was acutely aware of the negative shadow cast on his community. Determined to combat ignorance, he decided to devote his career to promoting global education, understanding and acceptance.
Adelphi University’s B.A. in International Studies program and the Levermore Global Scholars (LGS) program proved to be the perfect fit for Khan, giving him plenty of opportunities to explore cultures and faiths different from his own.
“Adelphi fostered my cross-cultural communication skills and gave me the ability to see the world through an intercultural lens,” Khan said.
Khan knew he would need more than academics to reach his career goals. He turned to the Center for Career and Professional Development, where he learned the ins and outs of résumé and cover letter writing and became a tutor for the center’s America Reads/ America Counts program.
In his junior and senior years, Khan was accepted into the Career Center’s Jaggar Community Fellows Program, which gave him the opportunity to intern at the International Center of Photography and the National Urban League in New York City.
“What I learned from Adelphi and the Center for Career [and Professional] Development is that you have to be a go-getter in life,” Khan said.
He continued to mold his college years around that motto. Through the LGS program, Khan was chosen to represent Adelphi at the Interfaith Youth Core Leadership Institute, the Annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations and Pathways for Mutual Respect at Yale Divinity School.
In addition, he was a leader in Adelphi’s Muslim Students Association, Sikhs United and the campuswide initiative to promote interfaith dialogue. As a result, he was awarded the Newman Civic Fellows Award in 2013.
Since graduating, Khan’s drive to succeed and create a better world has continued to grow. He used the Center for Career and Professional Development’s online job board (formerly known as PantherZone) to find his first teaching job at the International School of Choueifat in the United Arab Emirates.
Hungry for more professional experience, Khan went on to work at the New York Studio of Languages in Turkey, the International Rescue Committee in Southeast Asia, StudentsFirstNY in Brooklyn, New York, and Working America throughout the five boroughs of New York City.
Now he is pursuing his master’s degree in comparative and international education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and works as an international student counselor at Mercy College.
“I used Adelphi as a springboard to make changes at the student level that will hopefully grow beyond the campus,” Khan said. “Adelphi helped me understand that we’re all part of an international community and I want to continue to help others understand that with my work.”
This article appeared in the Career Compass Fall 2016 Newsletter.For further information, please contact:
Center for Career and Professional Development
Nexus Building, Room 225
p – 516.877.3130
Students and Alumni: careercounselor@adelphi.edu
Employers: employerservices@adelphi.edu