Nahom Abegaze is a part-time student in Maharishi International University’s master’s in leadership and workplace conflict resolution. He moved to the US from Ethiopia with his family when he was eight and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy and communication from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2013. He then worked as project coordinator for various nonprofit organizations.

Looking for a deeper level of personal growth while in college, he founded the organization Students Seeking Spirituality. He began practicing yoga and meditation and adopted a healthy lifestyle. That’s when he first learned about Maharishi International University (MIU) through a Facebook ad.

After completing his degree, he continued his pursuit of self-development and, in 2016, he came to a Visitors Weekend. “It was beyond my expectations,” he said. “I thought this was the place I was looking for and I wanted to join.”

Nahom moved to Fairfield in the spring of 2017 and worked as campus visit coordinator and HR assistant. He also had a chance to fulfill his dream of working in Ethiopia when MIU asked him to facilitate a collaboration with a partner university in Addis Ababa. Since last September, he has served as assistant director of MIU’s new Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Nahom says he is a “doer.” He is always hard at work and enjoys achieving his goals. Some of his skills include event planning, program development and implementation, and project management. All of his expertise and past experience come in handy in his new job, which includes infrastructure building, research, policy development, and education.

He considers the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs important tools for helping him efficiently accomplish tasks without burning out. “Moving to Fairfield was a strategic move,” he said. “Being in a community of meditators was essential to facilitate my spiritual growth.”

In 2020 Nahom also became a film producer, helping student Nina Ziv make an award-winning documentary about fellow student Buay Tang, who came to the US as a child refugee from South Sudan and was hoping to reunite with his family after 22 years.