About Us
Our Mission
The U.S. Educational Group is committed to assisting young men and women of the Arab world in pursuing careers in higher education. We recognize that international education offers opportunities to acquire training, knowledge, and understanding which enhances the individual, the nation and the world. U.S. Educational Group, led and staffed by Arabic-speaking educators, trained and experienced both in Arab world and in the United States, provides cross-cultural expertise for Arab students seeking twenty-first century skills through international education.
Board of Advisors
Daniel Adams
Director
International Center
University of Michigan-Flint
Flint, Michigan, USA
Guilherme Almeida
Director
International Education Programs
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, California, USA
Michael A. Brzezinski, Ed.D.
Vice Provost for Global Affairs and
Dean of International Programs
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN, USA
Harry G. Miller, Ph.D.
Vice President
(Academic Affairs)
Gulf University for Science
and Technology
Hawally, Kuwait
Jennifer Tkacz
Director
International Admissions
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA, USA
Dino Pruccoli
Director
International Admission
DePaul University
Chicago, IL USA
Meet our team
Joseph Z. Humadi founded the U.S. Educational Group, which produces “Al-Jamiat” the Arabic language magazine and educational fairs throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Eurasia and China. He is also one of the founders of the Washington International Education Council, which produces an embassy dialog in Washington, DC once a year in January and advises international students. He has been involved in international education for 20 years.
Mr. Humadi also runs the website www.al-jamiat.com, www.usegtours.com and www.washcouncil.org. He has produced programs in U.A.E, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and China.
Mr. Humadi and his team also produce virtual college fairs (VCF) for specialized clients. The production for these VCF’s includes setting up the website for the students to register. His team does all of the media buying, social media, print advertising, emails and mailings. The last VCF that USEG put together, produced over 5000 students that registered online and converted about 1000 to come on line during the fair. He is also a member of the Middle East SIG and NAFSA.
China – Partner
Gavin Newton-Tanzer is co-founder and president of Sunrise International Education, an experiential education and media company that manages extra curricular programs, pre-professional training, and lifestyle events for tens of thousands of Chinese students each year. Prior to Sunrise, he founded China Pathway, a study abroad “pathway program” provider, acquired by ShareWithU, as well as UExcel International Academy, an international education services provider operating centers in second tier Chinese cities, acquired by Compass Education Group. During college, Gavin founded the non-profit organization Global China Connection to bring together the next generation of US-China leaders, presenting in hundreds of schools across China and the US, and managing international youth programs including for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Shanghai Expo. Gavin received his B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University, and has been a visiting fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. An accomplished jazz pianist, Gavin is an avid reader and passionate about foreign languages.
Russia Team Leader/ Partner
Larisa Brener graduated from Dnepropetrovsk State University with a masters degree in pedagogy and applied linguistics. Larisa started her career as a teacher, counselor and Associate Vice President of the Youth Camp “Artek” on the Black Sea.
In 1994 Larisa was invited to manage university partnership grants between former USSR ( Russia and Ukraine) higher education institutions and U.S colleges and universities, and moved with her family to Chicago, Illinois. In 2004 Larisa together with AACC introduced community college concept in Ukraine and Russia and conducted seminars for Russian and Ukrainian higher education institutions.
In 2005 Larisa was invited to become a chair of Sister City partnerships between Silicon Valley and Russian Federation at City of San Jose and be a Program Coordinator at San Jose State University. Larisa received a congressional award for her work as an international educator and recruiter and a person who tied Silicon Valley with Eurasia, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. During her work as a Manager of International Recruiting at California State University, Fullerton, Larisa successfully developed recruitment of students from Eurasia and Eastern Europe, which resulted in immediate significant increases in enrollment of undergraduate and graduate programs from that region. Larisa is a Board member for several international schools in Russian Federation, Eurasia and Eastern Europe, as well as a consultant for numerous projects between Russian Federation higher education institutions and United States.
Middle East – Director of Social Media
Noha El-Khatib began her career as a school counselor in schools in the GCC. Growing up in Saudi Arabia as an Arab expat, she developed an affinity for multicultural communities and communication. After acquiring her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and graduate studies in Education Management, she moved back to the Arabian Gulf where she began her career as an educator. For about 5 years she helped connect expat and local students in the GCC to their universities abroad.
From there she went on to become an admissions officer at one of the US universities in the UAE, after which she then acquired a position in the digital team at a multinational media agency in Dubai, UAE where she specialized in social media marketing. Currently she is bringing her digital marketing experience with her love of education into her role with USEG. She is currently based in Dubai and is the Director of Social Media of US Educational Group and it’s Middle East publication, Al-Jamiat.com.