The spring 2025 semester cohort of Sine Institute fellows marked the first major change in the structure of the seminar series since its inception in 2018.
This semester established a new format, which includes a cohort of three fellows each spring and fall semester. This semester’s fellows make up the first all-female Sine cohort and include former American University President Sylvia Burwell, Nadia Murad and Tara Palmeri.
Sara Carney, a student associate for Palmeri, said that this marks a welcome departure for the usually male-dominated Institute.
“I think it’s really exciting that we have an all-women group of panelists,” Carney said. “Especially because a lot of them are coming from male-dominated fields.”
This semester’s fellows also all have ties to American University. Burwell is best known for serving as the University’s 15th president from 2017 to 2024 and was the first female president at the University, while Palmeri and Murad are alumnae.
Burwell’s seminar series focused on political realignment and was entitled “From Dolly Parton to Shaboozey - is the 9 to 5 Still Working?” The title, referring to Parton’s song “9 to 5” and Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song,” references changes in cultural issues that could cause a political realignment and how those changes are reflected in popular culture over time.
“The fundamental hypothesis is that there are both economic and cultural issues that the American people are dissatisfied with and causing part of this issue of a realignment,” Burwell said at a seminar. “And so, thus, 9 to 5 ain’t working.”
Burwell also has a long history of political involvement, having worked on her first campaign at age 7. She held cabinet positions in the Clinton and Obama administrations, serving as President Bill Clinton’s White House deputy chief of staff for policy and President Barack Obama’s director of the Office of Management and Budget and secretary of Health and Human Services.
Murad and Palmeri are AU alumni with differing backgrounds. Murad, a survivor of the Northern Iraq offensive, was one of many Yazidi women and girls taken captive by the Islamic State group who were subject to sexual violence. This inspired her to speak out on behalf of survivors of sexual violence worldwide.
Her seminar series, entitled “Activism and Accountability,” explored how perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence can be held accountable and how their survivors can achieve justice.
Murad explained to the audience at her first speaker series event the purpose behind her advocacy.
“After leaving so many loved ones behind in captivity, I wanted to be able to tell their stories to the world,” she said.
As a member of France’s Gender Advisory council, Murad convinced multiple G7 governments to adopt legislation that explicitly protects women’s rights. Murad is also the president of Nadia’s Initiative, a nonprofit focusing on supporting the Yazidi community and survivors of sexual violence globally. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 and is an American University alumna, graduating with a sociology degree in 2024 from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Palmeri has extensively covered politics for the New York Post, Politico, ABC News and startup news outlet Puck. She started as a desk assistant at CNN shortly after graduating from the University in 2008. The in-depth nature of her reporting has drawn ire from government officials in both the Trump and Biden administrations.
Palmeri currently works as a self-employed political journalist, reporting through her YouTube channel — a move she believes to be important to her career.
“I think that moving on from the legacies is probably a more strategic move in terms of the longevity of my career as legacy [media] continues to shrink,” Palmeri said in an interview with The Eagle. “I’ll be growing my own brand and moving into newer media, and hitting audiences where they’re going. It just sets me up for success in the future.”
Palmeri’s seminar series, focused on the 2024 presidential election and titled “A 2024 Election Postmortem,” evaluated the state of the Democratic Party in the wake of an election outcome that saw America shift considerably toward the Republican Party. In doing so, suggestions were provided on how Democrats should best move forward.
“The Democratic National Committee doesn’t seem to be doing that themselves, but this seminar was an opportunity to look back and see what went wrong for them, what they missed and how Republicans were able to take back the White House in a very historic way,” Palmeri said.
Palmeri believes that in the all-female cohort, she can come together with Burwell and Murad and combine their respective strengths.
“We are all very different women — we have very different perspectives and lives,” Palmeri said. “We all bring something different to the table, and we just so happen to be women.”
This article was edited by Owen Auston-Babcock, Tyler Davis and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Olivia Citarella, Sabine Kanter-Huchting Hannah Langenfeld…
