Alumnus dies in UN explosion

Rick Hooper (MAAS ‘90) died Aug. 19, 2003 in the bombing of the United Nations offices in Baghdad. Hooper, 40, was working as assistant to the head of the U.N.’s special envoy, Kieran Prendergast. Temporarily replacing an assistant envoy, Hooper was planning on staying in Baghdad for only two weeks before continuing on to Palestine.
Referred to in reports as the “U.N.’s chief expert on Arab affairs,” he previously worked as a U.N. peace coordinator in Gaza.
The news quickly spread throughout the alumni network and eventually landed on the desk of Liz Kepferle, Executive Assistant for Academic Programs in the Master of Arts program in Arab Studies on Aug. 20.
Hooper earned a Master’s of Arts degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown in 1990 after completing the two-year program. In addition to passing 12 courses, students in the MAAS program need to pass a language proficiency exam. Hooper passed out of this language requirement at the beginning of his program, having previously learned Arabic studying at the Birzeit University on the West Bank, the University of Damascus and the Center for American Studies Abroad at the American University in Cairo. While earning his master’s degree, Hooper also worked for the Lawyer’s Committee for Human Rights on Palestinian issues.
Before coming to Georgetown in 1988, Hooper earned a B.A. from the University of California-Santa Cruz in Politics with a focus on the Middle East. Hooper studied at Georgetown on a full graduate fellowship, where he combined academic excellence with activism and service.
According to a Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies news brief, Hooper is the first graduate of the 25-year-old Master of Arts in Arab Studies program to die in