During that time, there have been dramatic developments in the Middle East and in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Zoe's expertise and insights into these developments, particularly Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's surprise victory over Benjamin Netenyahu, led to her appearances on television news shows such as "Good Morning America" and to writing editorial commentaries for such newspapers as Newsday and the Journal of Commerce.

Zoe got her start studying Israeli politics and culture during the year she spent in Israel as one of the UofH's first Trachtenberg Scholars. A politics and government major at the University (known to her classmates as Zoe Fidelman), she spent her junior year (1985-86) at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

"I grew up with a very strong sense of attachment to Israel, but during my year as a Trachtenberg Scholar, I rethought a lot of my views," said Zoe. "That was my first exposure to Arabs. I saw Palestinians as people for the first time."

As a result of that experience and the support of the professors in the University's politics and government department, Zoe called her time at the University one of the high points of her life. "Dr. (Peter) Breit and the other politics and government professors really looked out for students and helped them reach their hidden potential. I developed a lot of self-confidence from professors who believed in me, and I got a sense that I could achieve what I wanted to achieve," she said. "I wouldn't have traded my University of Hartford education for the Ivy League or anything else," she added.

"When I taught politics courses in graduate school, I used my notes from their classes. They had such a great way of explaining things," she said. At Peter Breit's retirement party last year, she presented him with a copy of her doctoral thesis, which she had dedicated to him.

Zoe received her doctorate from the politics department at Brandeis University. Her primary field of study was international relations, with particular focus on domestic determinants of foreign policy and the role of non-state actors in global politics. Prior to joining the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, she served as the policy director of the McGeevey gubernatorial campaign in New Jersey, and before that she served as deputy campaign manager of the Lerner Congressional campaign in the seventh district of New Jersey.

A senator in student government during her time at the University, Zoe said she "was always a political junkie. My mother is a Holocaust survivor, so I had a strong sense that politics is more than just how high your taxes should be," she added