Zeena Zakharia is Assistant Professor of International Education Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her publications examine the interplay of language, conflict, and peacebuilding in education and advance a critical approach to refugee studies in the Middle East. These interests stem from over two decades of educational research, teaching, and leadership in war-affected contexts. Her current study (with F. Menashy, co-PI) investigates partnership arrangements in the global educational response to the Syria refugee crisis. She was a Tueni Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Middle Eastern Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University. She works with international and governmental organizations and schools operating in conflict-affected contexts.