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Speakers
Aslam Abdullah is the editor of the weekly Muslim Observer published
from Detroit, MI. He is also the director of the Islamic Society of Nevada
as well as the founding director of the Muslim electorates' Council of America.
Abdullah is well known for his community work, published books and involvement
in relief activities. He is a speaker, journalist, writer and author of several
books. He has published 11 books, and more 400 papers on issues pertaining
to Muslims and Islam. He is a vice chairman of the Muslim Public Affairs Council,
president of the American Muslim Federation of Muslims from India, a board
member of the North American Association of Professional and Scholars. He was
vice president of the American Islamic College in Chicago. Prior to that he
edited the Arabia magazine published from London. In addition to that
he has worked for the International Youth Center in New Delhi. Abdullah is
affiliated with several youth related activities in the country. He is part
of the Muslim Student Network, a Washington based student group devoted to
provide policy related training to Muslim students. He is also involved in
youth camps as a youth trainer. Abdullah, a naturalized U.S. Citizen was born
in India.
Laila Al-Marayati is the spokesperson and past president of
the Muslim Women’s League (MWL), a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated
to strengthening the role of Muslim women in society. Al-Marayati has
written articles and participated in numerous conferences addressing issues
of concern to Muslim women, including such topics as: basic women’s rights
in Islam; reproductive health and sexuality; stereotyping; and violence against
women. Al-Marayati
spearheaded the MWL’s efforts on behalf of rape survivors from the war
in Bosnia in 1993 and she was a member of the official US Delegation to the
UN Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Al-Marayati also has participated
in numerous activities related to international religious freedom. She
served as a Presidential appointee to the Commission on International Religious
Freedom and was a member of the State Department Advisory Committee on Religious
Freedom Abroad. She has testified before Congress and the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe regarding religious intolerance against
Muslims in Europe. As an American of Palestinian descent, Al-Marayati frequently
speaks and writes about the rights of Palestinians. She is chairperson
of the Board of Directors of KinderUSA, a humanitarian organization whose primary
focus is on the health and educational needs of Palestinian children living
in the West Bank and Gaza. Al-Marayati is a Board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist
working as the Director of Women’s Health at the Northeast Valley Health
Corporation in Southern California. She is a Clinical Professor at the
USC School of Medicine.
Karima Alavi is program director for the Dar al Islam Madressah in
Abiquiu, NM, where she directs a summer institute for American teachers titled “Understanding
and Teaching About Islam.” She has over 25 years experience in teaching,
and curriculum development in the areas of history and Islamic studies and
has presented more than 100 conference workshops. Alavi also does teacher training
for the World History Association, New Mexico Advance Placement, and the National
Council for the Social Studies. An American convert to Islam, Alavi studied
in Iran in 1976 as a Bicentennial Scholar. After completing her MA in History
at Kent State University, she retuned to Iran in 1978-‘79 to teach at
the University of Isfahan. She chose to remain in Iran after the Americans
were evacuated, and stayed for the remainder of the Islamic Revolution. Upon
returning to the U.S., she taught at Quaker institutions such as Wilmington
College of Ohio and The Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. Her publications
include a high-school curriculum unit, “Emergence of Renaissance: Cultural
Interactions Between Europeans and Muslims” (co-authored with Susan Douglass
of the Council on Islamic Education), as well as several chapters for Calliope
and Cobblestone Publications on Baghdad’s House of Wisdom, Hijab, and
the Qur’an. Her magazine articles include “What are American Children
Learning About Islam,” “At Risk of Prejudice: Teaching Tolerance
Toward Muslim Americans,” and “Thoughts on the CNN Special on the
Iranian Elections” published in 2000. Alavi returned to Iran in 2003
and 2004 to accompany educators’ tours for which she served as Primary
Lecturer. She’s also writing a fictional novel based on her experiences
during the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Hussam Ayloush is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, Southern California. Ayloush has appeared on local, national and
international media programs such as CNN, MSNBC, KABC, KCBS, FOX, AL-JAZEERA,
KTLA, PBS, BBC, NPR, KNX, KFWB, and KFI. He has also been interviewed
and has regularly written for a number of local and national newspapers such
as the Los Angeles Times, The Press-Enterprise, The Daily Breeze, Orange
County Register, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Christian
Science Monitor, San Jose Mercury News, and various newswire services on
American Islamic issues. Ayloush is a regular speaker at many California
colleges, schools, Islamic centers, churches, conferences, and universities.
Through CAIR's work of education and engagement, Ayloush maintains close contact
with public officials and various law enforcement agencies to ensure a better
understanding and treatment of Muslim. In addition to his work with CAIR,
he serves on the board of directors of ACCESS California a non-profit organization
providing social services to the Arab and Muslim community in Southern California
and on the national board of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice,
a Chicago-based organization that campaigns to improve benefits and working
conditions for low-wage workers. Ayloush holds a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering
from University of Texas, Austin in 1994 and an M.B.A. degree from California
State University, Fullerton.
Frank Buckley is co-anchor of the Saturday and Sunday editions
of "KTLA Prime News," joining Lu Parker at the anchor desk. Buckley joined KTLA/WB
in June 2005 from CNN where he had been a Los Angeles-based national correspondent.
In June, Buckley reported for KTLA from Iran on the presidential election. While
at CNN, Buckley's varied assignments ranged from breaking news to politics to
long-form enterprise reporting. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Buckley was embedded
with the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation in the Persian
Gulf. In the weeks following 9/11, he reported from warships in the Arabian Sea.
In 2004, Buckley participated in CNN's political coverage, traveling with the
Kerry and Edwards campaigns. In 2003-2004, he also traveled with President Bush
and frequently reported from the White House. Other political reporting assignments
have included Hillary Clinton's New York Senate run and the 2000 presidential
election and its aftermath. His spot news reporting has included hurricanes in
the Caribbean and the Carolinas, earthquakes in California and Japan, wildfires,
the Los Angeles riots, and the death of JFK Jr. off Martha's Vineyard. Buckley's
enterprise reporting at CNN led to three hour-long CNN Presents documentaries, "Carrier
at War," "War Birds," and "Mystery of the Arctic Rose." Buckley
was also part of the CNN team that received the National Headliner Award for
CNN's continuing coverage of the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. Prior to CNN,
Buckley was a reporter at Los Angeles station KCAL-TV. While at KCAL, he covered
a number of major stories, including Great Britain's handover of Hong Kong to
China, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Atlanta Olympic Park bombing and the OJ
Simpson trial. He is the recipient of numerous awards including an Emmy for his
coverage of the Hong Kong handover, APTRA Awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio
Association including Reporter of the Year, Golden Mike Awards from the Radio
and Television News Association and the national Americanism in News Media Award.
Earlier in his career he served as a weekend anchor/reporter at WXII-TV in Winston-Salem,
NC, and as a morning anchor/reporter at KESQ-TV in Palm Springs, CA. Buckley
has also written for the Los Angeles Times and The Detroit News. Buckley holds
a B.A. in history and broadcast journalism from the University of Southern California.
Juan E. Campo is associate professor of Religious Studies at University
of California at Santa Barbara. He has served as co-director of the UCSB Center
for Middle East Studies and is currently director of the graduate program in
Religious Studies. He specializes in the comparative study of Islam, particularly
in the Middle East and South Asia, teaching courses on Islamic tradition; religion,
politics and society in the Persian Gulf region; Islamic mysticism; modern
Islamic movements; Islam in India; the Qur’an; Arabic religious texts;
as well as introductory courses on the study of religion, religion and Western
civilization, and Middle Eastern studies. His research has taken him to Egypt,
where he has lived for more than five years, including two years as the director
of the UC Education Abroad Program study center at American University in Cairo,
and to India, where he served as director of the UC Education Abroad Program’s
study centers in Delhi and Hyderabad. Campo’s book, The Other Sides
of Paradise: Explorations in the Religious Meanings of Domestic Space in Islam, won
the American Academy of Religion’s Award for Excellence in 1991. Topics
examined in other publications and lectures include modern Islamic movements,
the history of Islam in the Middle East, Hinduism and Islam, and the growth
of the Muslim community in Southern California. Currently, Campo is serving
as editor in chief for the Facts on File Encyclopedia of Islam, and
writing a book entitled Pilgrimages in Modernity — a comparative look
at Muslim, Hindu, and Christian pilgrimages in the modern world.He holds
a B.A. in history from the University of Southern California and an M.A. and
PhD from the University of Chicago’s History of Religions Program.
Sara Cardine has been a reporter for the daily newspaper the
Lodi, CA, News-Sentinel for nearly two years. She covers the education and
health beat, and, in July, was asked to also take on issues relevant to the
Muslim community. Drawing on her past experience as an English/American Literature
teacher at a university in Siberia, Sara relies on the sometimes rickety and
vulnerable bridges that can be built between two different cultures when she
talks to local Muslims in the aftermath of a federal terror investigation.
She earned a bachelor's degree in Slavic Languages and Literature from Lawrence
University in Appleton, WI, in 1998 before deciding on a career path in journalism.
Edward E. Curtis is Millennium Scholar of the Liberal Arts and associate
professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. He
is a scholar of religion, race, and ethnicity; Islamic studies; and African
American history. The author of Islam in Black America (SUNY Press,
2002) and Islamization Nation: Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960-1975 (under
review), Curtis’ work has also appeared in the Journal of the American
Academy of Religion, Religion and American Culture, and Religion. He
is the recipient of several awards and grants, including a National Endowment
for the Humanities fellowship at the National Humanities Center, a U.S. Department
of State Middle East Partnership Initiative Grant, and an Andrew Mellon Fellowship
in Humanistic Studies. A native of Southern Illinois, Curtis holds a
doctorate degree from the University of South Africa, a master’s in history
from Washington University in St. Louis, and a B.A. in religion from Kenyon
College.
Dafer Dakhil is mosque director at USC's Omar Mosque.
Josh DeWind has been director of the Social Science Research
Council’s International Migration Program since 1994. From 1989 to 2003 he was a professor
of anthropology at Hunter College, City University of New York, where he initiated
the college's Program on International Human Rights (1990-2003) and directed
its Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program (1989-1999). He has published
numerous books, reports, and articles related to migration. He co-edited with
Charles Hirschman and Philip Kasinitz The Handbook of International Migration:
The American Experience, (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1999), which
is a collection of interdisciplinary essays surveying the field of U.S. immigration
studies based on a 1996 conference of the International Migration Program titled
Becoming American/America Becoming. In addition, he is a board member of the
National Coalition for Haitian Rights and was a founding board member of both
the Center for Immigrants Rights and the National Immigration Forum. DeWind
received his Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology of Columbia University.
Fadwa El-Guindi is director and research anthropologist at
El Nil Research in Los Angeles. Guindi has served on the anthropology faculties
of UCLA, University of California at Santa Barbara, the University of Southern
California and Georgetown University, with her field research ranging from
Nubia, to Mexico, to Egypt, to Islam, to Arab and Muslim America. She
is widely published and lectures internationally. Her expertise on the
Middle East was sought at a White House meeting with President Clinton, at
the US Senate and by the media. She is past president of the Middle East
Section and earlier of the Society for Visual Anthropology of the American
Anthropological Association. She serves on the Editorial Board of a number
of scholarly journals. Her recent book, now in its third printing, titled Veil:
Modesty, Privacy and Resistance, has been translated into Indonesian and
other languages. Her new book, Visual Anthropology: Essential Method
and Theory, has just been published. Guindi earned her B.A.
in Political Science from the American University in Cairo and her Ph.D. in
Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Mark Gonzales is a Hip Hop Theatre playwright, HBO
Def Poet, performance lecturer. He has been commissioned to perform his productions
for Cornell University, the Cali (IE) Hip Hop Theatre Festival, members of
the United Nation, U.S. Congress, and conferences across the United States.
Gonzales uses spoken word and hip-hop theatre to focus on elements of oppression
from African and indigenous drums to drum tracks; from the West Coast to the
West Bank; from private property to mural Marxists. His lecture, "Hip-Hop
and Hegemony," uses spoken word
and a turntable to give audio examples of how hip-hop has served and is serving
as a tool of resistance, rebellion and enlightenment. In 2003, Gonzales traveled
to Palestine to document firsthand the struggle of the Palestinians for social
justice. From these writings and dialogues, he has compiled several performance
pieces and a Hip-Hop Theatre play; the result is a daring and innovative way
of promoting social justice through Hip-Hop culture.
Sarah Gualtieri holds a joint appointment in the Department
of History and Program in American Studies and Ethnicity at the University
of Southern California. Her current research examines the history of Arab racial
formation in the United States with a particular focus on the problematic of “whiteness.” Specifically,
her work explores how Arabs came to be officially classified as “white” by
the U.S. government, and how different Arab groups interpreted, accepted, or
contested this racial classification over the course of the 20th century. She
argues that shifting understandings of religion and gender were crucial in
this process of racial formation. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, she taught
at Loyola University New Orleans. Her articles and reviews are published in Arab
Studies Quarterly, The Journal of American Ethnic History, The Journal of Religion,
Radical History Review, and Comparative Studies in South Asia, Africa
and the Middle East. She has traveled extensively in the Middle East, and
lived in Damascus, Syria for two years studying Arabic and conducting research
as a Fulbright scholar. Gualtieri completed her undergraduate studies at McGill
University in Montréal, Québec, and received an M.A. in Middle
East studies and doctorate in History from the University of Chicago.
Dalia Hashad is the Arab, Muslim, South Asian
Advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union. Her position in the Campaign
Against Racial Profiling focuses on issues facing Arab, Muslim and South Asian
Americans in the wake of post-9/11 backlash. As an Egyptian-American Muslim,
Hashad is intimately familiar with events, concerns, and tribulations in these
communities. As a media spokesperson for the ACLU, Hashad has been a commentator
on a wide variety of news outlets. Hashad’s work encompasses civil liberties
advocacy and protection, the plight of detainees, community outreach and empowerment,
and discrimination. She is a host of the grassroots radio show: Law and
Disorder: The Civil Liberties Radio Hour. She was chairperson of CALPIRG,
California’s
largest environmental and consumer protection group, worked as a human rights
advocate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and was a litigator at Skadden,
Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom. Hashad received her B.A. in Environmental Policy
from the University of California at Berkeley, and her J.D. from the New York
University School of Law.
Betsy Hiel has been the foreign correspondent
for the Pittsburgh (PA) Tribune-Review for five years. She is based in Cairo, Egypt, and has reported
from Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey, Italy,
Greece, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Hiel's reporting on the region
won the national 2000 Edward Weintal Award for Diplomatic Reporting from Georgetown
University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. She also has won awards from
the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors, the Pennsylvania Society
of Professional Journalists, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association-Keystone
Press, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the United Muslim Association
of Toledo and the Toledo Chapter of American Muslim Alliance, as well as a Pew
Fellowship in International Journalism. Hiel covered the 2003 war in Iraq, crossing
into that country through Turkey, then continued to report from Iraq throughout
2003 and 2004 -- including a series of stories on mass graves in Iraq. She reported
on Israeli-Palestinian clashes that grew into the Intifada in 2000 and 2001.
She also has written extensively about Arabs and Muslims in America, and her
series of articles about Arab-Americans in Toledo, Ohio, is included in the Smithsonian
Institution's Naff Arab-American Collection in the Museum of American History.
She is co-author of the book "The Islamic Revival Since 1988: A Critical
Survey and Annotated Bibliography," and was a contributor to the " Oxford Encyclopedia
of the Modern Islamic World." She is proficient in written and spoken
Arabic. She received a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the University
of Minnesota and a master's degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University;
she has studied at the American University in Cairo and Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Amir Hussain is associate professor in the Department of Theological
Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he teaches courses
on world religions, specializing in the study of Islam, focusing on contemporary
Muslim societies, specifically those in North America. Born in Pakistan, Hussain
immigrated to Canada with his family when he was four. Before coming to California
in 1997, Hussain taught courses in religious studies at several universities
in Canada. He is active in academic groups such as the American Academy of
Religion (where he is co-chair of the Religion, Film and Visual Culture group,
and serves on the steering committee of the Study of Islam section) and the
Canadian Society for the Study of Religion, publishing and presenting his work
at conferences. Hussain is also interested in areas such as religion and music,
religion and literature, religion and film and religion and popular culture.
Hussain is currently working on a textbook entitled Muslims: Islam in the
21st Century. His academic degrees are all from the University of Toronto
where he received a number of awards, including the university’s highest
award for alumni service. Hussain’s Ph.D. dissertation was on Muslim
communities in Toronto.
Jane Iwamura
Sherman Jackson is a specialist in Islamic law and theology. He is
currently a professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies and visiting professor
of Law at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He received a Doctor
of Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Oriental Studies
in 1990 and has written many scholarly articles and books including: Islamic
Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihâb al-Dîn
al-Qarâfî. Leiden: E.J. Brill Leiden, 1996. ; The Boundaries
of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî's
Faysal al-Tafriqa Bayna al-Islam wa al-Zandaqa , Oxford University Press, 2002; Islam
And The Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection, Oxford University
Press, 2005. He is a cofounder of the American
Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM). He is also a former member of the Fiqh
Council of North America.
Marty Kaplan is associate dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and director of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. He has been a White House speechwriter; a Washington journalist; a deputy presidential campaign manager; a Disney studio executive; a motion picture and television producer and screenwriter; and a radio host. He was a program officer at the Aspen Institute; executive assistant to U.S. Commissioner of Education Ernest L. Boyer; chief speechwriter to Vice President Walter F. Mondale; deputy op-ed editor and columnist for the Washington Star; visiting scholar at the Brookings Institution; and a regular commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and on the CBS Morning News. As deputy campaign manager of the Mondale presidential race, he was in charge of policy, speechwriting, issues, and research. He was host of So What Else Is News?, a nationally-syndicated program on Air America Radio, which examines media, politics and pop culture. He has also been a regular commentator on the business of entertainment on the public radio program Marketplace. At USC he has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Media & Politics, Campaign Communication, and Entertainment, and Communication & Society. He is principal investigator of a project monitoring television news coverage of political campaigns. He graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude in molecular biology. As a Marshall Scholar, he received a First in English from Cambridge University in England and as a Danforth Fellow, he received a Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University.
Tamara Keith is state capitol reporter
for KPCC radio and has been working in public radio since the mid-1990's. Before
joining KPCC, she was the Central Valley correspondent for KQED's The California
Report, and reported for WOSU in Columbus, OH. She has also freelanced for
National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Marketplace, and other national programs.
Keith began her radio career at 15, when she became a regular essayist for
NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. After hours, Keith is Senior Producer
of B-Side, a monthly radio magazine on KALX in Berkeley. She has a B.A.
in Philosophy and a Master's Degree in Journalism from UC Berkeley.
Sabiha Khan is communications director
for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Southern California. As a spokeswoman
for the Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
Khan works on providing media with accurate information about Islam and Muslim.
She works with various media organizations to correct and inform various American
media outlets about Muslims and Islam. She has been quoted and interviewed
by various newspapers, television and radio outlets, such as The Los Angeles Times, The Orange
County Register, CNN, and FOX. She has been a consultant to various television
and movie projects including NYPD Blue. She helps media professionals with
their stories on a daily basis by providing story ideas and referring to the
correct people in the community. She has also supervised and led various
projects such as the Billboard Campaign and the Ramadan Radio Advertisements
designed to bridge the gap of understanding between Muslims and their neighbors. She
has a Bachelors Degree from the University of California, Irvine in Psychology
and Social Behavior.
Edina Lekovic is communication
director to the Muslim Public Affairs Council, acting as a national spokesperson
for the American Muslim community to media outlets, government officials, interfaith
leaders, academic institutions, and community groups. Lekovic has appeared
in national television media, including CNN, BBC, and the History Channel.
Her work has also been featured in several leading newspapers, including the
Wall Street Journal , Washington Times , Associated Press , Chicago Tribune
, and Los Angeles Times . Lekovic has also participated in numerous national and international conferences and
interfaith dialogues speaking on a variety of issues related to American Muslims.
In December 2004, she represented MPAC at a United Nations seminar, entitled “Confronting
Islamophobia.” In 2003, she was invited by the Malaysian government to
be one of two U.S. representatives at the International Conference of Muslim
Young Leaders, which served as a precursor to the annual conference of the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
Karen Leonard is a historian and anthropologist at the University
of California, Irvine. She has published on the social history and anthropology
of India and on Punjabi Mexican Americans, South Asian Americans, and Muslim
Americans. Currently, she is finishing a multi-site ethnography on the construction
of identity in the diaspora by emigrants from Hyderabad, India, settling in
Pakistan, Britain, Canada, the US, Australia, and the Gulf states of the Middle
East. Her most recent book, Muslims in the United States, is an extended
bibliographic essay relating Muslim Americans to the changing religious, social
and political landscape in America. Leonard's other books are: Social History
of an Indian Caste: the Kayasths of Hyderabad (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1978); Making Ethnic Choices: California's Punjabi Mexican
Americans (Philadelphia: Temple University Press); South Asian Americans (Westport
Conn.: Greenwood Press, The New Americans series, 1997); Muslims in the
United States: the State of Research (New York: Russell Sage Foundation,
2003); and, forthcoming, Locating Home: India's Hyderabadis Abroad.
Her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin was in the history of India.
Mark LeVine is associate
professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture and Islamic Studies at
University of California at Irvine. He is the author and editor of half a dozen
books, including: Why They Don't Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil (Oneworld Publications), Overthrowing
Geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv and the Struggle for Palestine, 1880-1948 (UC
Press), Religion, Social Practices and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing
the Public Sphere in Muslim Majority Societies (Palgrave Press), Twilight
of Empire: Responses to Occupation (Perceval Press), and An Impossible
Peace: Oslo and the Burdens of History (Zed Books, forthcoming). He has
written for the Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, the Christian Science Monitor and
numerous other publications, including as contributing editor at Tikkun magazine,
and has traveled widely across the Middle East and North Africa, including
regular trips to Israel/Paletine, Lebanon and Iraq. As a musician he has worked
with Mick Jagger, Dr. John, Johnny Copeland, Moroccan gnawa/world music artist
Hassan Hakmoun, Lebanese rock band The Kordz, Tunisian rai-hiphop artist, MC
Rai, and most recently on the Grammy-award winning album Street Signs by Ozomatli.
John Lobertini is the
Sacramento Bureau Chief for KPIX-TV whose primary responsibility is covering
the governor’s office. He is a six-time Emmy Award nominee and two-time Emmy winner (Investigative Reporting & Reporter
of the Year). He also has won awards for Spot News Coverage, Feature,
and Series Reporting. His 23-year career has included coverage of tornadoes,
earthquakes, hurricanes, base closures, wildland fires, the energy crisis,
the Polly Klass kidnapping and murder, the Republican National Convention in
NYC, the Oakland Super Bowl riots and more.
Mary MacVean is an editor in the California section of The Los Angeles
Times. She has also worked at the Associated Press, where she was a national
editor and a food writer. She has been a freelance correspondent in Moscow and
has edited cookbooks. She is a graduate of Boston College and the Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism and attended the New York Cooking School.
Kamal Marayati is an actor and comedian. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq.
His parents migrated to America when he was two years old. His film appearances
include: The War Within (directed by Joseph Castelo); The Terminal (directed
by Steven Spielberg); After the Sunset (directed by Brett Ratner); Power
Hungry (directed by Chuck Bowmen); and Honey (directed by David
Ball). Among his television credits are: 7th Heaven, Homeland Security, Alias,
Family Affair, Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He
has an MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School and is a lifetime member of
The Actors Studio.
Vikki Porter is the director of the Western Knight Center.
Saaqib Rangoonwala is
news editor at KFWB News 980, and Editorial Board Member as well as regular
contributor for InFocus, the largest
American Muslim newspaper in Southern California. Rangoonwala joined KFWB,
an Infinity/CBS owned-and-operated station, in July 1999 as a news production
assistant. The move came after three and one-half years at the independently
owned Mt. Wilson Broadcasting Company. There, he contributed to three different
stations in a number of capacities, working in the news, promotions, and public
service departments.
Meagan Reid is assistant professor of Islam in the School of Religion
at the University of Southern California. A cultural historian, she focuses
on Islamic law and ethics with particular emphasis on the way in which individual
legal thinkers and theologians have responded to the needs of their communities
over the centuries. She is currently preparing for publication a book which
examines shifting conceptions of piety in medieval Islam and is researching
an article on the first African American pilgrims to Mecca in the 1930s. Her
research interests also include Muslims in Europe and Islamic law in the west.
At USC, Reid teaches a variety of courses, including Introduction to Islam,
History of Islamic Law, Women and the Islamic Tradition and a course on Sufi
literature. Since 1985, she has worked with local Muslim and Arab communities
in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. in Religion from
Princeton and also holds an M.A. in Religion from Princeton and an M.A. in
Islamic Studies from UCLA.
Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris have
been partners as writers and executive producers for many years. Their work
includes “Bulletproof Monk,” produced
by John Woo. They co-wrote the upcoming animated film “Master P: Kung
Fu Panda” for DreamWorks, the MGM feature “Fireflies,” and
created/executive produced the series “Brimstone” for Fox Broadcasting.
Reiff and Voris have been writing together since 1987. Though they never met
there, Reiff and Voris both attended NYU. They met at a graduation party thrown
by a mutual friend, where they learned each was completing feature-length screenplays.
They agreed to meet again and swap finished scripts, which they did at a Mets-Reds
game, leading to their long-term collaboration from their base in Los Angeles.
Nadia Roumani is
a research associate for the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, conducting a research
project examining the identities of Muslim-American Young Adults and Muslim
congregations in the U.S. that appeal to their distinct interests. She is currently
consulting on several projects focusing on Muslim communities in America. Roumani
also works as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International
Affairs in New York City, where she directs the Global Policy Innovations Project
and oversees the Carnegie Young Leaders Program. GPI explores the influence
of globalization on economic policy and democratic deliberation. Funded by
the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, GPI seeks to promote
viable alternative economic and social policy choices for promoting human development
around the world. Prior to joining CCEIA, Roumani was the assistant director
of the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a project housed at Columbia University
and directed by 2001 Economic Nobel Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz. While with IPD,
she managed eight country policy dialogues in the Philippines, Vietnam, Colombia,
Brazil, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Moldova, and Serbia. Prior to launching IPD in June
of 2000, Roumani worked at the World Bank as a Junior Associate in Stiglitz's
office, researching and editing speeches and papers. Nadia has consulted for
the UNDP in Syria, International Medical Corps, Ashoka – Innovators for
the Public, the Global Development Network, the Brookings Institution, and
USAID. Roumani has consulted for several foundation including the Rockefeller
Brothers Fund and Ford Foundation. Her Master’s degree is from Columbia
University's School of International and Public Affairs, and her Bachelor’s
degree in economics and international affairs from Stanford University.
Carolyn Rouse is an assistant professor of Anthropology and also teaches
in the Program in African-American Studies at Princeton University. She has
done extensive fieldwork with African American converts to Sunni Islam, and
with the sickle cell disease community. In addition, she has produced, directed,
and/or edited a number of documentaries including Chicks in White Satin (1994),
a film about a lesbian wedding; and Purification to Prozac: Treating Mental
Illness in Bali (1998). She is the author of Engaged Surrender: African
American Women and Islam (2004) and Uncertain Suffering: Racial Healthcare
Disparities and Sickle Cell Disease (forthcoming). Currently she
is co-writing a book entitled Televised Redemption: The Media Production
of Black Jews, Christians and Muslims. She received her Ph.D. from the
University of Southern California.
Agha Saeed is a lecturer in the Communications and Political Science
departments at University of California Berkeley and California State University
Hayward. He is also the National Chairman of the American Muslim Alliance
(AMA), a civic education and leadership training organization. Saeed is
also the current coordinator of the California Civil Rights Alliance (CCRA),
a coalition of 23 statewide organizations of various political, social and
religious backgrounds. The CCRA was instrumental in the introduction
of this year’s statewide resolution calling for the amending of the USA
PATRIOT act. In 2000 and 2004, Saeed was involved in the creation of
a first and second Muslim Bloc vote. He is the current chair of the national
coalition of Muslim organizations known as the American Muslim Taskforce on
Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), which was accountable for the 2004 Muslim
Bloc vote. For his forthcoming book, entitled Pakistan in its Own
Mirror: Elite Autobiographies and National Conciousness, Saeed interviewed
more than 40 authors, thinkers and leaders in Pakistan, including the current
president, General Pervaiz Musharraf. Saeed received his Ph.D. from the University
of California – Berkeley.
Eliz Sanasarian is professor of political science at the University of
Southern California and considered one of the foremost authorities on Iranian
politics, minorities, and women in the Islamic world. In addition to serving
in different capacities at various scholarly organizations, she is consulted
widely by public and private institutions in and outside the United States. She
was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies
and has received several awards at USC in the areas of teaching and research.
Her publications have appeared in various journals including the Holocaust and
Genocide Studies, Diaspora, and Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World.
She is the author of two books: The Women's Rights Movement in Iran and Religious
Minorities in Iran. She received her B.A. from Findlay College, her M.A.
and her Ph.D. in Political Science from State University of New York, Buffalo.
Naim Shah Jr. is
co-founder of the ILM Foundation, a faith-based non-profit organization whose
mission is to “Teach Life Skills to Replace Social
Ills” (ILM stands for Intellect, Love and Mercy). Before founding ILM
in 1998, Shah was a tax and audit consultant for Arthur Andersen & Co.
After four years of the corporate world and becoming more devoted to Islam
through study and community service, he left to focus on the foundation’s
programs including: Eat Right To Think Right Free Food Program, Partnerships
for Humanities Interfaith Program and Go Beyond the G.A.M.E. Youth Academic
Incentive Program. He has more than 10 years community service experience,
including serving as the treasurer of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern
California, which consist of over 60 Islamic Centers, Masajids and Muslim organizations
in Southern California, serving thousands of Muslim communities. Shah is also
the Operations Director of the Coalition to Preserve Human Dignity, which hosts
the largest annual Muslim “ Humanitarian Day for the Homeless.” He
also is chairman of the Board of Directors of Masjid Ibaadillah and also the
assistant Imam for the past 10 years under Resident Imam (Religious Leader)
of Masjid Ibaadillah, Imam Saadiq Saafir. Recently Shah joined the Board of
Directors of UMMA Community Clinic and is Chair of the Finance Committee. He
has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Fresno State
University.
Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff have
been partners as writers and executive producers for many years. Their work
includes “Bulletproof Monk,” produced
by John Woo. They co-wrote the upcoming animated film “Master P: Kung
Fu Panda” for DreamWorks, the MGM feature “Fireflies,” and
created/executive produced the series “Brimstone” for Fox Broadcasting.
Reiff and Voris have been writing together since 1987. Though they never met
there, Reiff and Voris both attended NYU. They met at a graduation party thrown
by a mutual friend, where they learned each was completing feature-length screenplays.
They agreed to meet again and swap finished scripts, which they did at a Mets-Reds
game, leading to their long-term collaboration from their base in Los Angeles.
Teresa Watanabe is a staff writer with the Los Angeles Times currently
covering ethnic and immigrant communities. She joined the Times in 1989
and worked as a Pacific Rim business reporter, Tokyo bureau chief and religion
writer before moving to her current assignment this year. During her seven years
on the religion beat, she took a particular interest in Islam and other minority
faith traditions. Before joining the Times, Watanabe worked at the San Jose
Mercury News covering Asia and the Pacific Rim, national affairs, state government
and politics, general Southern California news and education. She also worked
as an editorial writer for the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner.
A Seattle native, Watanabe attended the University of Washington and Waseda University
in Tokyo before graduating from University of Southern California with dual undergraduate
degrees in journalism and in East Asian Languages and Culture.
Diane Winston has worked as a reporter for several of the nation's
leading newspapers, including the Baltimore Sun, Dallas Morning News, Dallas
Times Herald and The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C. She
is the author of Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation
Army (1999) and co-editor of Faith in the Market: Religion and the Rise
of Urban Commercial Culture (2002) and writes the Faith Front column for
the Los Angeles Times. She has directed religion and media projects
at New York University and Northwestern University. Currently, she is
the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC's Annenberg School for Communication. She
holds an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University, a Masters of Theological
Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton
University.
Janelle Wong is assistant professor, Political Science and American Studies at USC.
Ahmed Younis is national director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council
in Washington, D.C. Before joining MPAC, he interned at the Office of the Legal
Counsel of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations and was assigned
to the Office of the Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Iraq. Younis
has studied extensively in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and is the author of American
Muslims: Voir Dire (Speak the Truth), a post-September 11 look into the reality
of debate surrounding American Muslims and their country, a publication that
has gained popularity in cities in the Muslim world since its translation into
Arabic. He has made guest appearances on numerous television and radio shows,
including Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Dayside
with Linda Vester,” “The Alan Colmes Show,” “Heartland
with John Kasich,” and Fox News Live; PBS’s “The Fred Friendly
Seminars;” the Trinity Broadcasting Networks; Sinclair Broadcasting;
and “Talk of the City” with KPCC’s Larry Mantel. Since joining
MPAC, Younis’ work has also been featured in several leading newspapers,
including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, Associated Press, Dallas
Morning News, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times. Younis is a regular speaker
in government conferences and events on topics such as terrorist financing,
public diplomacy and issues affecting the Muslim American community. He is
a graduate of Washington & Lee School of Law.
Zuriani "Ani" Zonneveld is
a writer, a producer, a singer, a speaker, an activist and a Muslim. She is
a board member of the Progressive Muslim Union (www.pmuna.org),
an ICUJP (www.icujp.org) sponsor, and advocate
for human rights in Islam. Born in Malaysia, Zonneveld’s youth was spent
in such places as Germany, Egypt and India, thanks to her ambassador father.
This influenced her outlook of life, politics, religion and culture. As a songwriter
and producer, she has worked with many different artists with releases in Malaysia,
Indonesia, Hong Kong, Germany, the U.K., Japan, and the U.S. Her work in Malaysia
resulted in an Album of the Year award at the AIMM which is the Malaysian equivalent
of the Grammy. She also contributed a song to Keb’Mo’s album “Keep
It Simple,” which helped him win a Grammy (2005) in the Contemporary
Blues category, a song for the Grammy nominated album “Big Wide Grin” (2003)
performed by Grammy winners Keb’Mo’ and Brenda Russell, and to
Melissa Manchester’s latest release called “Thank You For Your
Faith In Me”. Recently Zonneveld contributed three songs for Japanese
artist Yuki. Her album ‘Joy’ was at #1 for several weeks. Zonneveld
has strived to blend the worlds of music and social activism into one. She
speaks and sings about social justice, her angst against violations of human
rights, and peace, from a Muslim’s perspective. “Ummah Wake Up” is
an Islamic pop album focusing on the need for Muslims to seek out the real
Qur’anic teachings, the Middle Path. “One” is an interfaith
album, born as a result of her love for the many faiths and the realization
that we are truly one humanity. Through her activism, Zonneveld hopes these
projects will show there is an alternative face to Islam.
|
What fellows have to say about past seminars:
"Overall, the program was really excellent. I learned a lot, got tons of story ideas and perspective. As wonderful as it was to make contact with the sources, I think it was just as valuable - or more so - to meet so many enthusiastic talented journalists and exchange ideas and techniques and make friends."
- Diana Fishlock, Harrisburg, PA Patriot-News |
