Cragin Continues Beyond the Hill Series

October 5, 2006

"My OBU classes taught me to distinguish between what I know and what's important. In this day and age, we need Christian citizens who can respond to the world both with their hearts and with their minds."

That was the challenge Kim Cragin gave OBU students as part of the university's Beyond The Hill Chapel series Oct. 4.

The 1997 OBU graduate is an international policy analyst with the Rand Corporation in Washington, D.C. She holds a master's degree in public policy from Duke University.



Cragin wrote her master's thesis on U.S. counter-narcotics policy with regards to Plan Colombia and the FARC. She was awarded the Boren Fellowship by the National Security Education Program to study Hamas and Israeli right-wing extremism.

Her work has provided some uncommon experiences for the history major.

"I've visited terrorist strongholds in Columbia and Lebanon, and I was even kidnapped by terrorists in Egypt," she said.

"My job is to ask difficult questions. It's challenging and frustrating, and at times can be a bit frightening. However, I'm never bored, and I always know that my work can make a difference."

Cragin was honored with the OBU Alumni Association's Graduate of the Last Decade Alumna of the Year award in 2004.