Press Releases
Visiting Fullbright Specialist Crosses Borders to Provide Direct Access to the Muslim World
Saint Xavier University to host Lebanese scholar Dr. Adnan El-Amine March 21- April 3
CHICAGO (March 17, 2004) - Saint Xavier University is among the first group of U.S. colleges and universities to be awarded a grant to host a Fulbright Visiting Specialist from Lebanon in order to expand current understanding and knowledge of Islamic societies and cultures both inside and outside the classroom.
Beginning March 21 through April 3, Dr. Adnan El-Amine will assist a Saint Xavier faculty curriculum development team as it works to develop a new Middle Eastern Studies department. During his stay, Dr. El-Amine also will visit other institutions - including the University of Chicago, Moraine Valley Community College and Morgan Park Academy - with which Saint Xavier partnered on the Fulbright grant. Dr. El-Amine comes to Saint Xavier through the Fulbright Visiting Specialists: Direct Access to the Muslim World program, a new initiative sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State and administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) in Washington D.C.
This new program is supporting 25 grants at American colleges and universities for two- to six-week visits by 23 scholars (two of whom will be teaching at two institutions) and professionals primarily from the Middle East and other Muslim countries who are former visiting Fulbrighters to the U.S. Through the program, the Fulbright alumni are visiting American institutions that desire to enrich their understanding of Islamic, Middle East, North African and South Asian societies and cultures. Other institutions awarded grants in the Fulbright Visiting Specialists: Direct Access to the Muslim World include American University (Washington, D.C.); Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.); Lafayette College (Easton, Penn.); Saint Olaf College (Northfield, Minn.); Syracuse University (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.).
While here as a Visiting Specialist, Dr. El-Amine will engage the institution and community in dialogue, learning and mutual understanding, while working in conjunction with Saint Xavier's newly opened Center for International Education. In addition to meeting with faculty at Saint Xavier and its partner institutions, Dr. El-Amine also will present a lecture, "Education and Politics: Political Socialization in the Arab Countries," at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 30 in the Butler Reception Room in the Warde Academic Center on the university's Chicago Campus, 3700 W. 103 rd St.
Since 1977, Dr. El-Amine has been a professor of sociology of education in the Faculty of Education at the Lebanese University. As a researcher and education expert, he has published and has conducted missions in the Arab States regarding educational assessment and reform. President of the Lebanese Association for Educational Studies (LAES) since its founding in 1995, he has also been the general coordinator of the study on the evaluation of the New Curricula in Lebanon for the past three years.
Due to his experience in education, Dr. El-Amine will be able to supply the Saint Xavier faculty committee with the insight it needs to form a curriculum- and community-focused Middle Eastern Studies program, said Laurence Musgrove, associate professor of English and coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies.
"We requested when we completed the Fulbright application someone in the field of education to give us perspective in terms of developing this [Middle Eastern Studies] minor," Musgrove said.
Though Saint Xavier already has developed some coursework in Middle Eastern religion and the Arabic language, the minor program will cover a full breadth of topics, including history, literature and culture. Students choosing the minor would learn not only in the classroom, but also through outreach projects in the wider Saint Xavier community, Musgrove said.
"One of the goals with this program is to connect with the Arab-American community here," Musgrove said. Musgrove said he expects the minor to be available as an official study tract by the 2005-06 school year.