Atia Abawi: Recent alumna
outstanding in two fields
Curry Roberts
Curry Roberts (political science ’80) was
named the 2014 recipient of the Alumni
Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his contributions to the university. He received an Outstanding Young
Alumnus Award in 1989.
Roberts has served on various
council and leadership boards, including
the Dean’s Roundtable for the College of
Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. He has
also served as president of the Alumni
Association Board of Directors and on
the Virginia Tech Foundation Board.
His 30 years of professional experience include leadership roles in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. That
includes serving as the president of the
State Fair of Virginia, as CEO of the parent company of PM Beef Group, and as
chief operating officer of Morven Farms.
He is a principal with Hirschler Fleischer
Consulting LLC, a corporate-affairs
consulting firm. In 1986, Roberts served
Virginia as its secretary of economic
development, which included oversight of
15 state agencies.
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Amid a successful career as a foreign correspondent, Atia Abawi (communication
’04) took on a new challenge: writing a novel. Her book “The Secret Sky: A Novel of
Forbidden Love in Afghanistan” will be released in September by Philomel Books.
For her accomplishments as a journalist and a novelist, Abawi was chosen as
Virginia Tech’s Outstanding Recent Alumna for 2014.
Abawi joined CNN in 2004 as an assignment editor and producer on the international desk in Atlanta. In 2009, she became an international correspondent in
Afghanistan. Based in Kabul, she was responsible for covering the nation and the war
there. In 2010, she joined NBC as a freelance journalist producing on-air reports
from Afghanistan.
Dale Jenkins, one of Abawi’s instructors, is not surprised by her achievements.
“Atia was a delightful student,” he says. “She has a great personality and is a
gifted reporter.”
Her novel, inspired by her experiences in Afghanistan, tells of a girl who falls in
love with a boy of a different ethnicity. Though fictional, it paints a realistic picture
of the conflicts and culture clashes in Afghanistan today. Writes Abawi’s colleague
Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent, “‘The Secret Sky’ brilliantly captures the magic and the heartbreak of Afghanistan as only someone rooted
in its mystery can.”
Abawi says she was also inspired by her own romance with Conor Powell, whom
she married in 2012. The couple met in 2009, while both were working in Afghanistan. “We grew up in Northern Virginia about 10 minutes away from each other, but
we are from two very different worlds,” the couple wrote on their wedding website.
“Atia is of Afghan origin, and Conor is not.”
Abawi was born to Afghan parents in West Germany and was raised in the United
States. She currently lives in Jerusalem with her husband. Abawi gives much credit
for her success to the university. As she wrote in a recent email, “Virginia Tech gave
me the courage and confidence to chase my dreams.”
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