Lana Shamma
Research Assistant, Alhurra Project
Master of Public Diplomacy, USC
 
Lana Shamma will be graduating in May 2008, along with the first class of Master of Public Diplomacy students. In this program she has been able to bridge her passion for popular culture with her interest in the Middle East. More specifically, her interest lies in film as an avenue for advocacy. In the realm of Public Diplomacy she is also interested in educational exchange, diaspora studies, nation-branding, and cultural diplomacy. She is currently working on the Alhurra TV Research Project to assess the broadcast channel's effectiveness. In addition, she is the Program Assistant for the newly launched Middle East Studies Program at USC. In her first year at USC, she interned at the Canadian Consulate of Los Angeles in the Political, Economic, and Public Affairs section. After that she served as Program Assistant at the USC Annenberg Institute for Photographic Empowerment.

In 2005, Lana received her B.A. in Sociology with Minor in Spanish from the University of California, Los Angeles. Having studied abroad in Spain, she hopes to continue her travels as she embarks on her career. She is fluent in Arabic. Outside of school, she is Festival Coordinator of the Arab Film Festival of Los Angeles.