CICW Team
Ermin Sinanović
Executive Director
Ermin Sinanović is executive director of the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World (CICW) at Shenandoah University, where he is also Scholar in Residence. Before joining CICW, he was director of research and academic programs at the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), and an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He was also a faculty associate in research, Southeast Asian Program at Cornell University.
Sinanović studied for an Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in Political Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. He obtained two bachelor's degrees (one in the Qur’an and Sunnah studies, the other in political science) from the International Islamic University Malaysia, and a master's degree (Islamic civilization) from the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sinanović’s research interests include transnational Islamic revival, revival and reform in Islam, contemporary Islamic thought, Islamic political thought, Southeast Asian politics, Islam and politics, and leadership in higher education. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and in edited volumes, including Politics, Religion and Ideology, Muslim-Christian Relations, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, and Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. Sinanović sits on editorial boards of two academic journals: Politics, Religion and Ideology (Taylor & Francis) and Context (Center for Advanced Studies, Sarajevo). He has reviewed book manuscripts and articles for Edinburgh University Press, Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan USA, American Political Science Review, Journal of Global Ethics, and Journal of Muslims in Europe, among others. He speaks Bosnian, English, Arabic, and Malay. He maintains a personal website, Islam on the Edges, while his research is also available at academia.edu page. His email address is [email protected] and his Twitter handle is @SinanovicErmin. |
Younus Y. Mirza
Younus Y. Mirza, Ph.D., is an executive board member of CICW, a visiting researcher at Georgetown University and Director of the Barzinji Institute for Global Virtual Learning at Shenandoah University. He defended his dissertation in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University in 2012 and has taught at Millsaps and Allegheny Colleges.
His current research focuses on the relationship between the Bible and the Qur’an and the shared stories between them. He is a co-author of the book The Bible and the Qur’an: Biblical Figures in the Islamic Tradition and has published in various journals such as the Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JAAR), the Journal of Qur’anic Studies (JQS) and Islam Christian-Muslim Relations. He teaches courses on the Qur’an, Islamic movements, Biblical and Qur’anic prophets, marriage and sexuality in Islam, and Islam and other religions. He is a regular instructor in CICW's Winter and Summer Institutes and contributes to CICW's Hajj Virtual Reality Project. His writings can be accessed here. His Twitter handle is @ymirza3131. |
Rehenuma Asmi
Director of Education Rehenuma Asmi, Ph.D., is an executive board member of CICW, and a convener of teacher training program. She received her bachelors from Georgetown University with double majors in Arabic and Government. Dr. Asmi completed her Masters in Teaching from American University and her PhD in Anthropology and Education from Columbia University Teachers College. She served as Assistant Professor of Religion and Education at Allegheny College from 2013-7. Dr. Asmi's research interests are in the areas of bilingual education, education policy and socio-cultural effects of education on Muslim family life.
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Amaarah DeCuir
Amaarah DeCuir, Ed.D., is an executive board member of CICW, and a convener of teacher training program. She is a professorial lecturer in the School of Education at American University in Washington, DC. Dr. DeCuir is an Education Leadership scholar whose work, broadly speaking, focuses on the intersections of leadership, gender, and diverse cultural contexts to advance social justice. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.Ed. from Howard University and an Ed.D. from George Washington University. With over 20 years of P-20 teaching and leadership experiences, she uses her work to impact praxis and scholarship.
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Ahmed ElHattab
Ahmed ElHattab has been an active participant in the Islamic Philanthropy and Nonprofit sector in the United States since 1978. He joined the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) full time in 1983 for 37 years, where he served as the Executive Director of ISNA Development Foundation (IDF) for 26 years, as well as ISNA Interim Secretary General for several years. He was the President of the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA) for two terms (86-87). He also has been a board member of the American Islamic College in Chicago (AIC) since 2013. Currently, he is the Director of Development at Sterling Charitable Gift Fund (SCGF) and the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World (CICW) as well as member of its Executive Board. He is also member of the Advisory Committee of the North American Imams Federation (NAIF), member of the Advisory Council of the Council of Islamic Schools in North America (CISNA), and member of the Board of Trustees of FAITH (Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help).
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