Our Vision
Hubs Staff
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Dr. Rebecca Granato, DirectorDr. Rebecca Granato, Director
Rebecca Granato is the Associate Vice President for Global Initiatives at Bard College and Program Director for the Open Society University Network’s Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives (Hubs) in Eastern Africa and the MENA region. Dr. Granato’s work focuses on developing and delivering contextualized, learner-centred learning experiences in undergraduate courses, teacher professional development and research-oriented training in places affected by crisis and displacement for refugees, internally displaced people and those in the host communities. She has also been an Associate of Bard College’s Institute for Writing & Thinking since 2004, in which capacity she has developed and delivered teacher professional development in places as far reaching as Myanmar, Jordan and Kyrgyzstan, among others. Following undergraduate and graduate studies at Bard College, Exeter College, Oxford, and CUNY, she received her PhD in Global History from the intercampus program based at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. -
Dr. Kerry Bystrom, Academic LeadDr. Kerry Bystrom, Academic Lead
Prof. Dr. Kerry Bystrom earned a BA, summa cum laude, in English/Creative Writing and Government from Dartmouth College (1999) and a PhD in English from Princeton University (2007). Awards for her doctoral research on cultural responses to dictatorship in Latin America and apartheid in South Africa include Princeton’s Charlotte Elizabeth Proctor Honorific Fellowship and an International Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (USA). Before arriving at Bard College Berlin in 2012, she taught at Princeton University, Bard College, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the University of Connecticut, where she was also director of the Research Program on Humanitarianism at the Human Rights Institute. She teaches at the intersection of aesthetics and politics, and on topics ranging from postcolonial studies (theory, literature, performance and visual art) and African and world literature to trauma and memory studies, human rights, and humanitarianism.
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Shahariar Sadat, Co-Lead of The Osun Hubs LeadershipShahariar Sadat, Co-Lead of The Osun Hubs Leadership
Shahariar Sadat joined the BRAC CPJ team in April 2021 as the first Director, responsible mainly for the two areas- Academic and Legal Empowerment. Shahariar is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and an accredited mediator and master trainer on mediation. Prior to joining CPJ, he was the Head of Program of Human Rights and Legal Aid Services (HRLS) at BRAC.
Shahariar is a mediator of the Global Mediation Panel of the United Nations. He has worked as a country mediator of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman of the World Bank Group and a mediator for the Independent Redress mechanism of Green Climate Fund. He is also associated with Bangladesh International Arbitration Center (BIAC) as a panel mediator and master trainer.
Mr. Sadat was a partner and course coordinator of London College of Legal Studies (South), an institution which provides teaching support for qualifying law degree under English law. He had been an adjunct faculty of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and the University of Dhaka. He was the Academic Coordinator and Research Manager of the South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS) and has previously played the key role of Academic Coordinator at the CPJ, Brac University. -
Michael Oyoo, Program ManagerMichael Oyoo, Program Manager
Michael Oyoo is the Program Manager for the Osun Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives.
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Juan Glassford, Communications ManagerJuan Glassford, Communications Manager
Juan Glassford is the Communications Manager for the Osun Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives.
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Alvaro Zuñiga, Coordinator of the Global Taskforce on Third Country Education PathwaysAlvaro Zuñiga, Coordinator of the Global Taskforce on Third Country Education Pathways
Alvaro Zuñiga is the Coordinator for the Global Taskforce on Third Country Education Pathways
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Anne-Marie Manishimwe, Executive Assistant to the DirectorAnne-Marie Manishimwe, Executive Assistant to the Director
Anne-Marie Manishimwe, is the Executive Assistant to the Director for the Osun Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives.
Our Partners
Bard College and Brac Center for Peace and Justice lead the OSUN Hubs, while other OSUN partners play a key role in planning and program implementation, including Princeton’s Global History Lab and The Rift Valley Institute.
