Fourteen months in an Iranian prison is no deterrent for Barry Rosen whose commitment to educational reform in Afghanistan is unwavering.  Rosen, the College's former executive director of External Affairs, was held captive in 1979 when militant students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran to protest the admission of deposed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to a New York hospital for cancer treatment.  Today, Rosen is a part of the TC Afghan Education Project that is working to develop textbooks that emphasize peace and conflict resolution.

"Why would a 60-year-old man want to be in Afghanistan?" asked Rosen about this country that is a neighbor of Iran.  "It's my way of saying to myself, 'I want to do something that I feel is real and palpable, to be out there rather than sitting behind a desk now and retiring.' This is something of that part of my life."

The article, entitled "Ex-Hostages Remember 1979," appeared in the November 4 edition of the Casper Star Tribune.

Published Friday, Nov. 5, 2004