Dabeet named to International Sister Cities board
After being active with the Muscatine Sister Cities organization, a Muscatine educator will now represent the organization on a larger scale.
John Dabeet, a business professor with Muscatine Community College, was elected July 17 to the Board of Directors for Sister Cities International, the parent organization of the Muscatine Sister Cities group, of which Dabeet serves as president. The elections took place before and during the Sister Cities International Conference in Minneapolis, which Dabeet attended.
Founded by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, Sister Cities International is a nonprofit group whose mission is to promote peace and bonds between different communities.
“It’s a great organization to be a part of,” Dabeet said.
Dabeet is the first person from Muscatine and only the second person from Iowa to win election to the board, as well as the first Palestinian-American to be so honored. He will serve a three-year term.
Voters from 522 member cities participated in the balloting, which for the first time allowed voting over the Internet for candidates.
“They really encouraged a lot of cities to participate in this process,” Dabeet said.
Dabeet will be serving on three committees as a member of the Sister Cities International board. The first, the governors committee, oversees and regulates the organization’s by-laws.
He will also be part of the membership committee. In that role, Dabeet said that he is hoping to visit all of the Sister Cities chapters in Iowa to promote the organization and increase interest in membership.
The third committee he will serve on will be the organization’s China task force. Dabeet said that appointment might have had something to do with the city’s growing relationship with its Chinese sister city, Zhengding County, as well as with the rest of the country.
Source: muscatinejournal.com