Speaking from his office in Washington, DC, Walker Gunning described how a chance encounter with an elderly woman in a grocery store parking lot altered the course of his academic career forever. While an undergraduate at NYU, Walker happened upon this stranger and offered to help her with her groceries. She asked him about his studies. Over the course of their conversation, Walker uncovered an untapped interest in the Arab world. Upon his return to school he immediately signed up for Arabic classes. Walker returned to NYU to pursue his master’s degree in Near Eastern Studies at GSAS, studying the role of media in the Arab Spring in Egypt. “GSAS tested whether my ideas, research, and ability to connect with an audience were up to par.” He presented his dynamic thesis topic as a finalist in the 2012 GSAS Threesis Academic Challenge, a valuable opportunity to take solitary, research-oriented work and present it to a public audience for an honest reaction. His experience in the Threesis also taught him to effectively and concisely pitch his work.
After graduation, Walker sought employment in the U.S. capital. Through an alumni connection at a production company documenting the relationship between the United States and the Arab world, Walker found his path into the media landscape and to his current role as an Associate Editor at Al-Monitor, an online news publication focused on current events in the Middle East. Walker describes his work as “ensuring great work gets online.” He works diligently with a team of dozens of reporters and analysts in the region to uncover the trends behind the events making headlines. The website continues to garner praise and recognition, and Walker noted in particular their continuing series on women in the Middle East (find the full series here). “At Al-Monitor, we have the ability to ask the questions and pursue the stories that no one else is covering. The only limit is our own intellectual curiosity. It’s the job that I hoped existed when I graduated from GSAS.”
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