Hassen Khraibani
Before Hassen Khraibani decided to major in the undergraduate Conflict Analysis and Resolution (CAR) program at George Mason University, he was a business major interested in international issues. When he realized that the business program would not provide him with the type of international knowledge he was seeking he decided it was time for a change. He heard about CAR and thought it sounded like a good fit: "I love to travel, I had thought about living abroad, and I wanted to learn more about world conflicts. I wanted to learn more about what was going on in the world."Hassen was impressed with the way the CAR courses were designed, their focus on class discussion and person-to-person interaction, as well as the diversity of the student body and the opinions shared in class. He appreciated that guest speakers were an important part of the curriculum and found the professors to be professional and inspiring. Additionally, Hassen was really impressed with the advising process at CAR, both Lisa Shaw and Julie Shedd were very supportive. For his final project at CAR, Hassen studied the effects of violent video games on children's minds. At that time, he had a little brother through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, an experience he found highly inspiring, learning quite a bit from about video games and child development.
He has found conflict management and negotiating to be highly useful in his current work in international sales at Barros International. Many times he has had to negotiate contracts on behalf of embassies and embassy representatives as well as other individuals involved in the contract and the negotiating skills he learned in CAR have proven to be hugely useful in these situations. As a member of the Consular Corps of Washington D.C. he has used his conflict management skills to help his colleagues work through different interests and needs.
When asked whether he had any plans to continue his education at the graduate level Hassen replied with an enthusiastic, "Absolutely!"
