Patricia Greer, a St. John's tutor, doesn't know exactly what to expect when she arrives in Iraq next month to join the faculty of the private American University in Iraq-Sulaimani.

Sulaimaniya, as the city's name is usually spelled, is home to Iraqi Kurds, most of whom welcomed the American invasion of their county. The area where the school is located is largely untouched by the war and its aftermath. Greer expects to have a bodyguard, although she's not sure whether the two-story villas on the campus in northeastern Kurdistan will be ready for her and her husband, Alain Antoine.

Nor does she know what to expect from students. Certainly they are not widely versed in the intense, cerebral, not-for-the-weak-willed seminar-style discussions for which St. John's curriculum is known.

But Greer, who spent more than
20 years working in India — she traveled overland from Europe by way of the Khyber Pass in the 1970s — is ready for the experience. She and Antoine have "lived in so many circumstances," she said, that "there's nothing we couldn't manage." And, she added, "there's that sense of adventure. I love that feeling."

Greer and Kenneth Wolfe, another St. John's tutor, responded to the e-mail call of John Agresto, a former president of the college, who served as the American University of Iraq's interim provost and chancellor and is still a member of the board of trustees.

Education in Kurdistan is traditional, with lots of rote learning and lecturing. Agresto, Greer said, wanted Iraqi students to experience the same level of conversation and questioning that takes place at St. John's, and "that's all I know how to do."

Before becoming involved in the new university, Agresto spent nine months working for the Coalition Provision Authority in Iraq as a senior adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific and Research and later wrote a frank account of the state of education in post-Invasion Iraq ("Mugged by Reality").

The university, which is modeled on highly successful American universities in Cairo and Beirut, opened last fall in donated offices with about 15 students and a mostly Western faculty. All instruction is in English, and the school operates on international standards of instruction, administration and ethics, according to its Web site. AUI-S will offer a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management & Policy Studies, a Bachelor of Science in Computer Systems & Information Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in International Leadership as well as a Master of Business Administration.

The campus, which is under construction, is on 400 acres near the airport donated by the regional government. Tuition, books and fees are $5,000 per semester. Greer said about
60 students are expected to attend this fall.

She will be teaching English composition and world history to both men and women. From the photographs Greer has seen, female students in Kurdistan wear jeans, as in other parts of the world, and most are not veiled.

The students, she said, are the "cream of high-school students in Iraq." The goal of the university is to educate the country's next generation of leaders and technicians.

"It feels good to do something positive in Iraq (such as) helping the younger generation to take the reins when we finally leave," said Greer, who is postponing a planned sabbatical (to turn her dissertation on the Mahabharata epic of ancient India into a book). "That means a lot to me."

She expects other tutors might follow her, and their experiences can "only enrich the (St. John's) college community."

Antoine, who taught film and was the network administrator at Monte del Sol Charter School, will set up an audio-visual department at the American University of Iraq and make promotional films about the school. He also hopes to go into homes to film documentaries. When Greer told him about the prospect of living and working in Iraq for a year, she said, "He got that gleam in his eye."

Just in case the mutton, flat bread, goat cheese and yogurt from the bazaar isn't sustaining, Greer said her husband is shipping a gallon of Mexican hot sauce (Cholula) to his temporary home.

Greer has been a tutor at St. John's since 2001 and got tenure last year. She has a bachelor's degree from Notre Dame, master's degrees from Johns Hopkins University and St. John's College and a doctorate from the University of Virginia in the history of religions. From 1971 to 1994, she worked in southern India, planting trees, doing construction and eventually heading an international high school.

Greer and Wolfe plan to start a blog on their experiences in Iraq. From time to time, the paper hopes to publish excerpts.

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.