I am excited to let folks know that starting Fall 2016 semester, I will officially be co-director of the Islamic Studies Program at UNO (although we’ve been working hard all summer). Ramazan Kilinc and I will be teaming up in order to best make use of our strong points.

Many great things are already in motion and we plan on continuing the robust set of things we’ve been offering. We want to make minor ing in Islamic Studies much easier by outlining minor maps, adding courses (like my new Qur’an class), and engaging students more regularly in formal and informal settings. We plan on continuing the quality guest speakers we’ve had steak at UNO. Last year we brought two of the most important scholars of Islam in America to campus, Kambiz Ghaneabassiri (Reed College) and Edward Curtis (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis). In the coming years, we hope to expand our research capacity through increased external funding and building local and national scholarly networks. We will also continue developing relations with the Omaha and Midwest community and hope to become an Islamic Studies hub for the region.

I’m privilege and excited to take on the task. Follow what we are doing with the program on Facebook and Twitter.