Last year, amid the tumult of the Middle East's Arab Spring--a series of uprisings that have toppled governments and tested the United States' foreign policies throughout the region--administrators at Kirkwood Community College (KCC) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received an intriguing request. The school was among a group of institutions contacted by the U.S. embassy in Tunisia about establishing components of the community college model in the Middle Eastern nation to help address both its higher education and workforce needs. After a round of discussions, and backed by a $250,000 Economic Support Fund grant from the U.S. embassy, KCC entered into a two-year partnership project with Tunisia's Institut Supérieur des Etudes Technologiques in the city of Sfax (ISET-Sfax), America-Mideast Educational and Training Services Inc. (AMIDEAST), and Iowa State University. "This program is designed to encourage the exchange of knowledge about the important role of community colleges and the ISET system in educating students and finding employment for recent graduates," U.S. embassy officials said of the program.