“As a Palestinian refugee, I came to the United States of America as a student with one suitcase, one Arabic Bible, and one English Arabic dictionary. I would not be here today as a moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) without Columbia Seminary being part of my life, nurturing me spiritually, and helping me to be a leader in a local congregation, and in this case with the whole denomination.”

Fahed Abu-Akel ’74
Moderator of the 214^th General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church (USA)