The Department Our Faculty Current Graduate Students Prospective Graduate Students Current Undergraduate Students Prospective Undergraduate Students Our Alumni Announcements & Job Postings

Back to Faculty Directory

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

• October 2006-Present: Lecturer, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
• February 2003-Present: President, EISSA & ASSOCIATES, Inc.: Arabic & Islamic Consulting and Education
• Winter 2003-Spring 2003: Visiting Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago; Fellow with the National Middle East Language Resource Center at Brigham Young University
• September 99-2003: Mellon Lecturer, University of Michigan (On leave 02/03)
• Jan. 99-June 99: Visiting Teaching Professor, Brigham Young University
• Jan. 98-Jan. 99: On Leave from NWU. Research and translation projects
• 1985-1992: Director, Program of African & Asian Languages
• 1982-Jan. 98: College Lecturer in Arabic, College of Arts & Sciences, Northwestern University
• 1967-1981: Senior Arabic Language Teacher, Center for Arabic Studies, The American University of Cairo

EDUCATION

C.Phil, Arabic Literature & Culture, University of California-Los Angeles, 1984
PhD, Islamic History & Civilization, Al-Azhar University (Cairo), 1978
MA, Islamic History & Civilization, Al-Azhar University (Cairo), 1968
BA, Islamic History & Civilization, Al-Azhar University (Cairo), 1966

1979-1982, In various institutions including UCLA, British Council, Cairo University, and the American University in Cairo in the subject areas listed below:

Materials Development, Contrastive Studies and Analysis of English and Arabic, Functional Language Teaching, Methods of Teaching a Foreign Language, Phonetics and Phonemics, Testing and Evaluation in Language Teaching, Resources for Teaching a Foreign Language (Audio-Visual Aids),and Culture Orientation in Foreign Language Teaching.

LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

Arabic (native language), fluent English, fair research command of French, Spanish, and Persian

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• American Association of Teachers of Arabic (AATA)
• Middle East Studies Assoc. of North America ( MESA)
• American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
• American Translators Association (ATA)
• World Arabic Translators’ Group (WATA)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (other than teaching)

ADMINISTRATION:

• Directing academic units (Program of African & Asian Languages)
• Directing Summer Arabic Institute for training teachers of Arabic as a foreign language ,(curriculum, budget, personnel, and student affairs)
• Directing Summer Study Abroad in Alexandria, Egypt (95-98)

CURRICULA AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT:

Developed materials for courses on: Muslim Historiography, Selected Topics in Islamic History and Literature, Sources of Islam, Studies in the Qur'an and Tafsir, Arabic Literature in Translation, Arab cultural identity, and materials for Arabic language teaching and testing including language tapes for various levels and skills; materials for teaching Arabic through subject matters.

TRAINING:

• Cross-Culture training for academic and business personnel
• Training Teachers of Arabic as a Foreign Language
• Training Teachers of English as a Foreign Language

RESEARCH/TRANSLATION:

• Co- translating “The Islamic Jurisprudence and Its Evidence” of Dr. Wahbah Al-Zuhayli. (Volumes 5 & 6: ‘Financial Transaction in Islamic Jurisprudence’)
• Critical Edition of Sharh˛ Gharıb Sırat Rsül Allah of Abu Dharr al-Khushani (d. 604 A.H = 1205 CE)
• Islamic Civilization in the Western Basin of the Mediterranean in the Fourth Century AH (Tenth Century CE)
• Computer-Assisted Language Learning
• Editing two books in the series of ‘Great Books of Islamic Civilization; published by Garnet Publishing of England.
• Editing several translated books in the series of Middle East Text Initiative; published by Brigham Young University.
• Editing and Translating books, academic articles and other educational materials for use in teaching and business-related purposes.

COUNSELING AND ADVISING:

• Foreign students at al-Azhar University, in the City of Islamic Missions (foreign students administration), and at the American University in Cairo.
• Freshmen Academic advisor at Northwestern University 1994-1998)
• Faculty Advisor: Muslim Culture Student Association and Arab Students Organization of NWU.
• Faculty Associate (1983-1998) and Associate Master of the International Studies Residential College of Northwestern University (1995-1998).

OFFICES HELD:

• Member of the Steering Committee for the Arabic Standard K-16.
• Associate editor: Islamic Translation Series published by Brigham Young University (1999 – present)
• Associate Editor: Al-`Arabiyyah, the academic Journal of the American Association of the Teachers of Arabic, (1999-present)
• Member of the Executive Board of the American Association of Teachers of Arabic (Jan. l, l987 Dec. 3l, l989 and 1996 - 1999).
• President, the Amer. Assoc. Teachers of Arabic (98/90).
• Member, Editorial Board of “AL-ARABIYYAH”, the academic AATA journal (1984-1994).
• Member, Executive Board, Arab Cultural Council of America.