This April, we recognize Arab American Heritage Month and the many contributions and achievements of Arab Americans in the past and present. We also spotlight members of the Michigan State community who hold this proud heritage and are doing work that advances the lives of these individuals. Kari Kammel, our April Access Champion, is the Director of the MSU Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection (A-CAPP), housed within the College of Social Science, and an adjunct professor in the College of Law.
Kammel arrived at Michigan State in 2012, originally taking a position within International Studies and Programs (ISP) to manage MSU sponsored professional training programs with participants from the Middle East. Kammel has spent significant time in the Middle East, both as a student earning her master’s degree in International Human Rights Law from the American University in Cairo, a high school teacher and girls soccer coach in Cairo, and as Deputy Chief of Party for the International Human Rights Law Institute’s Iraq office as part of DePaul College of Law. Kammel herself is Egyptian-American, with her family coming from the Al Minya area of Southern Egypt.
Kammel entered undergrad at the University of Chicago planning to study archaeology and Egyptology before pivoting to more modern studies of the Middle East. After graduation, while Kammel was working for a Chicago law firm, the September 11 attacks occurred in 2001. Kammel was inspired by current events and her own family heritage to move to the Middle East and continue to develop her passion for helping others.
At the American University in Cairo, Kammel studied international human rights law through the school’s Political Science program. “The other people in my program came from Egypt, but also throughout the Middle East, Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa,” she explained. “It was a really diverse perspective that, if I had taken the same programming here in the US, it might have looked very different.”
For Kammel, bridging cross-cultural divides and being able to understand and interact with individuals from a multitude of cultures has continued on from her childhood into her educational experiences, and now, her professional life. Whether it’s in conversations with people from across different ethnic or religious backgrounds or working with a variety of law firms, governmental branches and multinational brands at her job, “Understanding how to navigate between cultures, while staying authentic to who I am, was something that was always of interest to me.”
Kammel was named Director of the A-CAPP Center in 2022 after first joining the team in 2015 and serving as Assistant Director of Education and Outreach. She was drawn to A-CAPP’s mission of brand protection and consumer safety and enjoyed that it would allow her to utilize more of her legal background while still working with groups in the Middle East. This idea of cross-cultural navigation still plays a large role in Kammel’s position. “A-CAPP engages with a mix of cross-cultural work environments, but we also work with organizations all over the country and the world,” she said. “It’s a mix of all kinds of people, and a great example of how everyone brings their own unique set of skills and needs to the table, and that we should be open to new ideas and learn from each other.”
One of Kammel’s favorite parts of Michigan State is the direct role she plays in the implementation of new ideas. She helped create the MSU Middle East North African Faculty and Staff Association (MENA-FSA) with other Middle East and North African faculty and staff on campus, and feels supported by her colleagues in the College of Social Science in her continued efforts to bring new perspectives to the table. She also enjoys the diverse perspectives she is exposed to by working with students. “They keep me on my toes, and give me hope for our future,” she explained.
Kammel is a firm believer in the importance of sharing one’s cultural beliefs and heritage with the next generation while also being open to progress, new ideas and change. “My Egyptian heritage is something I’ve exposed my children to, and I feel that it’s important that it carries on in their lives, but in a way that is authentic to them,” she said. “And an authentic way for me, too, and what that looks like as I get older shifts over time, and there’s a lot of beauty in that.”
She also hopes that these cultural lessons can transcend familial lines and become part of a larger conversation about the unique opportunity we have in our country to learn about and be exposed to an unending variety of different cultures and ways of life, both during Arab American Heritage Month and beyond.
“There is sometimes a myopic view of anyone from the Middle East- that we’re all Arab, we all think a certain way, we all believe the same things. But the beauty of the Middle East is that it’s truly very diverse, culturally, religiously, spiritually, and ethnically . The most important part about the celebration of Arab American Heritage Month is the opportunity to highlight this really beautiful tapestry of cultures.”
Honorees’ views are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the College of Social Science.
