Rebecca Arrington

Tedros Birhane

Education delayed but not denied

Tedros Birhane, 46, a native of Eritrea, started his education at the University of Addis-Ababa in 1981. But his studies were interrupted by war.

After working a series of jobs and emigrating to the United States, Birhane resumed his education part time. While working, he earned an accounting degree from Northern Virginia Community College and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer information systems from Strayer University. He became a certified public accountant and then enrolled in the U.Va. McIntire School’s master’s program in management information systems from which he is now graduating.

A project manager with the Bowie, Md.,-based Mil Corp., an information consulting firm, Birhane received some money towards his degree, but paid for most of it himself. He believes the cost is worth it, since the McIntire program emphasizes the practical over the theoretical.

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