Alum Ismaeel Naar ’13 will return to Northwestern University in Qatar to address the Class of 2028 at the 2024 Convocation Ceremony on August 22, 2024.
Every year, at the start of the new academic calendar, the community gathers at the convocation ceremony to welcome the new students following a week-long orientation. The keynote speaker joins Northwestern Qatar Dean and CEO Marwan M. Kraidy and the president of student government in addressing the new class as they are formally inducted.
"Welcoming Ismaeel Naar is a true honor. His journey from our classrooms to the global stage at The New York Times exemplifies the power of a Northwestern education,” said Dean Kraidy. “Ismaeel's achievements inspire our community, and his words will undoubtedly resonate with the Class of 2028 as they embark on their own transformative journey. We are proud to have him share his insights and experiences with our future leaders."
Naar’s passion for journalism sparked at Northwestern Qatar, where he graduated from the Journalism and Strategic Communication Program in 2013. Soon after his graduation, he joined Al Jazeera as an online journalist covering stories from across the Middle East.
His work in the region continued over the years with Al Arabiya News Channel as an online journalist. Thereafter, he worked with The National News as a breaking news reporter and Arab affairs editor.
During his tenure, he has produced hundreds of articles and videos focused on varied events in the Middle East, including the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the devastating earthquake in Syria, and the plight of Gazans crossing into Egypt at the Rafah border. In 2016, he was awarded the Young Arab Journalist of the Year award by ITP Media Group and APP Media Group in recognition of his journalistic work.
Most recently, Naar joined The New York Times as a Gulf bureau reporter in Dubai, where he will cover the Gulf and the wider MENA region.
"I'm very excited to return to my alma mater to speak at its convocation celebrating another crop of young journalists and storytellers, exactly 15 years after I was in their exact position when I entered Northwestern Qatar as a freshman as part of the second-ever incoming class,” said Naar. “I hope to reconnect with old colleagues, professors, and staff and meet with the university's leadership to learn more about the progress the school has gone through over the past decade."
The Class of 2028 is the school’s 17th incoming class, representing 29 countries. As they join Northwestern Qatar, they become part of a global community of evidence-based storytellers focused on advancing research, mediamaking, and scholarship on the Global South.
