USC employee becomes one of only a few Afghan women to earn PHD

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)– Thursday, May 7, 2026, a University of South Carolina employee became one of only a few Afghan women to earn a PHD.

As an Afghan girl growing up in the 1990’s, Zo Sediqi was blocked from the classroom by the Taliban’s education ban.

Today she became one of only a handful of Afghan women in the world to earn a doctorate, and she did it while working full time at the university.

Dr. Sediqi says she plans on continuing her career at USC.

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