Alumnus Sadam Issa (PhD 2013) reports that in 2013, he was hired by the Department of Linguistics at Michigan State University, where he teaches various courses including Arabic linguistics and Middle Eastern and world political cartoons. Since 2013, he has been conducting research on the use of comics in second language classrooms, political cartoons, music and resistance after the Arab spring, and politeness and print ads. He has published in these areas and is currently working on a book on political cartoons in the Middle East.