About
Bio:
I have been an independent consultant since 1999. I specialize in designing, monitoring and evaluating programs that support cross-cultural understanding and local-to-global enterprises, including public-private partnerships (P3s). Prior, I was a supervisory academic exchange program manager with the U.S. Information Agency for 13 years, co-founded a non-profit education and training firm and coordinated public management research for a George Washington University-Bearing Point partnership. My consultancy, research and civic engagement focus on engagement with diasporas and conflict mediation. I have a doctorate in public policy and public administration, with a concentration in international development, and I continue to conduct research on diplomacy and development. Other experience includes: graduate level teaching; writing; editing; fundraising; community organizing; and competency in the Arabic and Russian languages and cultures. CV
Portfolio:
Current book project: Ethnographic memoir on teaching and practicing conflict mediation amid intensifying ethnic and racial diversity and economic inequity.
Signatory, US-Lebanon: Relations: Setting a New International Framework for a More Responsive Government, The American Task Force on Lebanon and The Middle East Institute, January 19, 2023 launch.
Co-author, “6 Key Steps for Targeted US Diplomacy to Stabilize Lebanon and Advance US Foreign Policy,” The Middle East Institute and the American Task Force on Lebanon, 24 March 2021.
“Widening Participatory Dialogue to Improve Public Engagement and Program Impact,” for the October, 2020 NASPAA conference.
“The Expanding Space for Faith-Based Mediating Institutions in the Time of COVID-19,” for the November, 2020, conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofits and Voluntary Action.
Healthy Responses Amid Turmoil: Medical Diplomacy and Citizen Protest, (2020, January 2), University of Southern Californian Center on Public Diplomacy.
“Cultural Competency Teaching and Practice in the MENA” with Aziza Zemrani and Sawsan Abutabenjeh (2020, January), Siyasat Arabiya 42: 109-123.
Cross-Sectoral and Inter-Sectional Collaboration at #ASPA2018, #ASPA2019 and Beyond, 2019.
Building Trust and Capacity through Community-Based Partnerships in Montgomery County, Maryland, 2019.
Evaluator for the Arab American Institute Foundation project, “U.S.-MENA Experiential Partnership,” a U.S. Department of State-funded program in good governance and civic engagement that pairs Arab American and Tunisian municipal officials, 2019.
“Many Voices, Many Hands: Widening Participatory Dialogue to Improve Diplomacy’s Impact,” May, 2018, University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy Perspectives Paper 4, Los Angeles: Figueroa Press.
How Practices of Genuine Dialogue and Participatory Communication Work Together in Public and Citizen Diplomacy Partnerships, 2018. view PDF
Outputs, Outcomes, and Impacts of Three Diaspora-Engaging Public-Private Partnerships, 2018. view PDF
Montgomery County, Maryland-Morazán, El Salvador Sister City Partnership Chronology of Activities, 2018. view PDF
"A Moment of Opportunity: Zika, Diasporas, and Public-Private Partnership," July 6, 2016, University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy Blog
"Cultural Diplomacy Partnerships: Cracking the Credibility Nut with Inclusive Participation," in Nontraditional U.S. Public Diplomacy: Past, Present, and Future, 2016. Public Diplomacy Council, Washington, D.C.
Nontraditional U.S. Public Diplomacy: Past, Present, and Future (ed.). (2016). Public Diplomacy Council, Washington, D.C., and online.
Khaldoun AbouAssi and Deborah L. Trent. (2016). “NGO Accountability from an NGO Perspective: Perceptions, Strategies, and Practices.” Public Administration and Development 36: 283-296
Administering Diversity: Transnational, Collaborative Engagement through Public-Private Partnerships in Lebanon, the U.S., and Beyond
Click here to view Presentation
2014-2016 Non-resident Research Fellow, University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Center on Public Diplomacy: “Gauging the Quality of Public-Private Partnership Programs involving U.S.-based Diasporas”
Participant, Design, Monitoring and Evaluation (DM&E) in Peacebuilding Community of Practice, International Mediators Community of Practice
Khaldoun AbouAssi and Deborah L. Trent, (2015), "NGO Accountability from an NGO Perspective: Their Perceptions, Strategies, and Practices, Program on Governance and Local Development, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, http://www.gld.gu.se/gldworkingpapers.html
Ph.D., Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, 2012, Dissertation: Transnational, Trans-Sectarian Engagement: A Revised Approach to U.S. Public Diplomacy toward Lebanon, https://www.proquest.com/docview/1038836409/A057C31F549F41F3PQ/7
Research Fellow, Arab American Institute, Washington, D.C., 2009-2010
Contributor, “Pilot Project for The Democracy Workshop,” by Robert Stoker, Eric Lawrence, Wilhelmine Miller, Lori Brainard, and John Dryzek, January, 2009, George Washington University Institute of Public Policy, http://gwipp.gwu.edu/files/downloads/Working_Paper_037_DemocracyWorkshop.pdf
Khaldoun AbouAssi and Deborah L. Trent (2013), “Understanding Local Participation amidst Challenges: Evidence from Lebanon in the Global South.” Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 24(4): 1113-37
"American Diaspora Diplomacy: U.S. Foreign Policy and Lebanese Americans." (2012) Clingendael, Netherlands Institute of International Relations, The Hague, https://www.clingendael.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/20121206_discussionpaperindiplomacy_125_trent_beveiligd.pdf
James Edwin Kee, Kathryn E. Newcomer, Deborah L. Trent, Valerie Oster, Sasha Rosen, Dan Proudfoot, Whitney Setzer, Mike Davis, and Allen Cermak, (2007, April), Leading Change, Managing Risk: The Leadership Role in Public Sector Transformations. Report of the Center for Innovation in Public Service, GW and BearingPoint
Kathryn E. Newcomer, Deborah L. Trent, Brent Bushey, Charlene Johnson, Mike Davis, and Allen Cermak, (2006, October), A Strategic Framework for Implementation of Human Capital Management in the Federal Government. Report of the Center for Innovation in Public Service, GW and BearingPoint
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