Helen Hatab Samhan has over 35 years of experience in non-profit advocacy, research and cultural outreach work about Arab Americans and U.S.-Arab relations.

Samhan has published and lectured extensively in the field of Arab American ethnic studies: the immigrant experience of Arabs in the U.S., their identity and demographics, political involvement, and the impact the 9/11 terror attacks have had on Arabs and Muslims in America. She is the author of “Not Quite White: Race Classification and the Arab American Experience.”

Now retired, Samhan’s professional career included 25 years as a senior executive at the Arab American Institute (AAI) where she led its Census and Demographics program, including forming the only Census Information Center (CIC) serving data needs of Arab Americans. She led decennial outreach and bilingual education campaigns since 1990 and served on the 2010 Census Advisory Committee. In the leadup to the 2020 Census, Samhan organized stakeholders from the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) communities in the U.S. to advocate with the OMB for an ethnic classification for people from the MENA region, advocacy which is ongoing.

Samhan received a Masters’ degree in Middle East Studies from the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. She lives in Fairfax County, Virginia where she served two terms on the Human Rights Commission, and was appointed in the 1990s to the Virginia Board of Professional and Occupational Certification, and the Virginia 2010 Census Advisory Committee.