Affiliated Faculty Profile

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Director of Middle East Studies Program (Fall 2011 – CURRENT)
          Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University

Assistant Teaching Professor (Fall 2014 – CURRENT)
          History Department, Rutgers University

Assistant Teaching Professor (Fall 2014 – CURRENT)
          Religion Department, Rutgers University

Lecturer (Fall 2010 – Spring 2014)
          History Department, Rutgers University

Lecturer (Fall 2008; Spring 2012 – Spring 2014)
          Religion Department, Rutgers University

Fellow, Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis (2010 – 2011)
          History Department, Rutgers University

Grader, Middle East Studies Seminar (Spring 2009)
          Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University

Lecturer (Spring 2003)
          University of Pennsylvania

Adjunct Faculty (Fall 2002)
          East Stroudsburg University

Teaching Assistant and Writing Adviser (Fall 1999 – Spring 2001)
          University of Pennsylvania

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. (August 2010), University of Pennsylvania, Religious Studies
• B.A. (1993), Dickinson College, Religious Studies
• Arabic Language (2001-2002), Center for Arabic Study Abroad in Cairo, Egypt
• Arabic Language (1999), Summer Intensive Arabic at Middlebury College
• Semester Abroad Program (1996), School for International Training, Morocco

LANGUAGES

• Arabic – advanced/intermediate (reading, writing, speaking)
• French – reading
• German - reading

AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS

• Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis Fellowship (2010-2011), New Brunswick, NJ
• Fulbright IIE Program for U.S. Students Dissertation Research Grant (2004-2005), Bahrain
• Fulbright-Hays Fellowship for Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (2004-2005), Bahrain (declined)
• American Research Center in Egypt Dissertation Research Grant (2004-2005), Egypt
• University of Pennsylvania Religious Studies Pre-dissertation Grant (2003), Bahrain
• Center for Arabic Study Abroad Full-Year Fellowship (2001-2002), Egypt
• University of Pennsylvania Religious Studies Boardman Fellowship (2000)

PUBLICATIONS

• "Bahrain:Origins of a Crisis," Jadaliyya, http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1209/essential-readings_bahrain_origins-of-a-crisis, April 10, 2011.
• “God’s law or state’s law? Authority and Islamic family law reform in Bahrain,” dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2010.
• “The Battle Over Family Law in Bahrain,” Middle East Report, No. 242, Spring 2007.
•  Review of Amira El-Azhary Sonbol, Women of Jordan: Islam, Labor, and the Law in International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 36, no. 3,   August 2004.

PAPERS PRESENTED

• “’A Diagnostic of Power:’ Strategies of Muslim women activists in advocating Islamic family law reform in Bahrain, 1982 – 2008,” Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, April 12, 2011.
• “Women and Family Law Reform in Bahrain: Re-shaping Shari`a and the Islamic State,” Religious Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, September 17, 2009.
• “Shi`i `Ulama’ in Bahrain: The Family Law Debate as an Arena for Redefining Religious Authority,” Annual Meeting, American Academy of Religion, November 3, 2008.
• “Shi`i `Ulama’ in Bahrain: The Family Law Reform Debate as an Arena for Redefining Religious Authority,” Middle East Studies Graduate Student Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, October 20, 2008.
• “Is Islam’s Response to Suffering Gendered? A Reply to Susan Sered,” Mid-Atlantic American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, March 15, 2001.
• “Testing Bell: An Application of Catherine Bell’s Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice to the Sufi ritual Sama’,” Religious Studies Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, December 8, 1999.

COURSES TAUGHT

• Islamic Civilization, Rutgers University
• Women and Society in the Islamic Middle East, Rutgers University
• Islam, Global Civilization, Rutgers University
• Introduction to Islam, Rutgers University and University of Pennsylvania
• Introduction to World Religions, East Stroudsburg University, PA

COURSES ASSISTED

• Middle East Studies Seminar, Rutgers University
• Religion and the Search for Meaning, University of Pennsylvania
• Religions of the West, University of Pennsylvania
• Religions of the East, University of Pennsylvania

RESEARCH AND EXPERIENCE ABROAD

• BAHRAIN (2005-2006) Dissertation Research: Between Allah and Man, Sunni and Shi`a: Bahraini Women and Shari`a Court Reform
• EGYPT (2004-2005) Preliminary Dissertation Research: Personal Status Law Reform and Egyptian Women Activists.
• BAHRAIN(2003) Preliminary Dissertation Research: Between Allah and Man, Sunni and Shi`a: Bahraini Women and Shari`a Court Reform.
• MOROCCO (1996) Independent Study Project: Adam’s Rib in Cultural Perspective: Comparative Cosmogonies and the Ontology of Women in the Qur’an and Genesis.
• ISRAEL (1991) Lived and worked as a field hand on Kibbutz Ga`aton, Nahariyya.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

• American Academy of Religion
• Association of Middle Eastern Women’s Studies
• Fulbright Association
• Middle East Studies Association