David L. Boren Awards for International Study

A highlight of the Boren Fellowship Symposium was the presentation of the Sol Linowitz and Howard Baker Jr. Awards to a distinguished Boren Fellow and Boren Scholar.  The Honorable Gail McGinn, the deputy under secretary of defense for plans, presented Matthew Parin with the Baker Award and Benjamin Orbach with the Linowitz Award. 

Matthew Parin, a 2005 Boren Scholar, studied Arabic in Egypt. Parin currently works in the Iran division of the Middle East and North Africa Office at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He previously interned with the Federal Aviation Administration, where he worked on the Middle East desk in the Office of International Aviation. This fall, Parin will deploy to Iraq as an intelligence analyst supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Matthew graduated from American University in 2007 with a degree in international relations.

Benjamin Orbach, a 2002 Boren Fellow, studied Arabic in Jordan. His experiences as a Boren Fellow formed the basis for a book, Live from Jordan: Letters Home from My Journey through the Middle East. Orbach has worked for the Department of State and served in the Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, including an assignment to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, and has received multiple professional awards. He currently serves as the resident country director for Creative Associates International in the Palestinian Territories. He received a master’s degree in international affairs from School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in 2003.