Graduate Support Office launches ‘Graduate of the Month’ Initiative
March 1, 2007
Beginning with March 2007, the Marshall Center Graduate Support Office will select and feature a Marshall Center “Graduate of the Month.” The purpose of this initiative is to feature Marshall Center alumni who are playing an active role in furthering the ideals of the Marshall Center in creating a more stable security environment by advancing democratic institutions and relationships; promoting active, peaceful security cooperation; and enhancing enduring partnerships among the nations of North America, Europe, Eurasia, and beyond.
Deputy Defense Minister Zana Xhuka, Marshall Center Graduate of the Month, March 2007
Ms. Zana Xhuka Featured as First Marshall Center “Graduate of the Month”
Congratulations to Ms. Zana Xhuka, Deputy Minister of Defense, Albania, for being selected as the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Graduate of the Month for March, 2007!
After volunteering for attendance at the Marshall Center and subsequently passing an interview, Ms. Xhuka was nominated by her Ministry to attend the Marshall Center in 2001. Ms. Xhuka then attended the Executive Program in Advanced Security Studies at the Marshall Center (EP 2001-1) as a Lecturer from Albania’s Defense Academy. When asked how her Marshall Center experience may have subsequently prepared her for academic duties at the Defense Academy, she noted that she “used all of the information I obtained at the Marshall Center to help prepare for lectures, especially focusing on the development of Albania toward full democratization and achieving a NATO invitation for full membership.”
In 2004 Ms. Xhuka became the Chief, Policy Sector, Defense Policy and Integration Directorate, Ministry of Defense. In this role her Marshall Center experience helped her in “preparing different strategic documents to bring the Albanian Armed Forces toward full democratization, in line with western NATO concepts.”
In September, 2005, Ms. Xhuka assumed the duties of her current position as Deputy Minister of Defense for Albania. Deputy Minister Xhuka acknowledged that the Marshall Center prepared her for her current duties by “broadening my knowledge and relationships” as well as “changing my behavior toward the future”. In 2006 Ms. Xhuka returned to the Marshall Center to attend Senior Executive Seminar 2006-3. After attending two courses at the Marshall Center, Deputy Minister Xhuka noted that she particularly appreciated the Center’s “organization, professionalism, leadership and environment”, among other things.
Currently active in the Management Committee of the Marshall Center Alumni Association of Albania, Ms. Xhuka also holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and is a PhD. candidate.
