Scholars at risk in their own countries find a new home at Penn

Golubev was amazed at the access to a wide array of materials through Penn’s libraries. “I can order almost anything,” he said.

He hopes to find work and stay in the United States after he completes the scholar program.

‘Maybe I should do something’

Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, a professor of economics, heard about Angel Alvarado from a mutual friend when he was visiting a university in Spain. Alvarado, his friend told him, was a Venezuelan congressman and economist who had been advocating for democracy and improved economic policy in the country. Venezuela, Fernández-Villaverde said, has had the world’s largest collapse of Gross National Product in the last 100 years in a country that was not at war.

“It was not going well for him,” Fernández-Villaverde said.

Alvarado, 43, had been beaten by police and a friend died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody in 2018, he said.

“I thought maybe I should do something,” Fernández-Villaverde said.

Alvarado has spent the last two years at Penn. He has co-taught an online course on the economic history of Latin America and interviews Spanish-speaking economists for a podcast. He also finished his dissertation.

Alvarado wants to return to Venezuela if there is a regime change.

“Philadelphia for me has been Heaven in a sense,” he said. “Penn is a top university... with top academic professors, researchers... and the students are top students in terms of achievement and ideas, people who want to change the world.”

‘Just dreaming’

For Moradi, it was Karen Hall, deputy executive director at the Rule of Law Collaborative at the University of South Carolina, who helped arrange his time at Penn. She was assisting several dozen scholars get from Afghanistan to U.S. universities. She reached Eric Feldman, deputy dean for international programs at Penn Carey Law.

Feldman said Moradi “showed up with a smile on his face” and asked how he could repay Penn. Moradi thought he would have to do research or complete other scholarly duties.

“We said, ‘What you can do is study for the bar [exam] and do your very best to pass the bar,’” Feldman said.

It was the only way for Moradi to remain in the United States and work as a lawyer.

Moradi passed the New York Bar last year and got a job at a financial company in Delaware. He’s already been promoted and serves as corporate counsel. He and his wife live in Philadelphia.

“Sometimes,” he said, “I think maybe I’m just dreaming.”