Skip to main content
Indiana University Bloomington
images of NELC

Announcements

NELC Celebrates Student Accomplishments!

The NELC department would like to celebrate a number of accomplishments and awards obtained by its students over the previous year, as well as to highlight some of our students' exciting summer plans for work and study.

  • Khalil Abu Gharbieh received the NELC department Amel Amin Zaki Award at the 2007 spring reception.
  • Sarah Almuhairi received the NELC department Bibiyah Istrabadi Award at the 2007 spring reception.
  • Amber Bacavis completed a departmental honors thesis.
  • Kirstin Golberg received a Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. State Department to study Arabic in Morocco for summer 2007. She also presented a paper entitled "Under the Shade of Swords: An Examination of the Classical Islamic Ideal of Martyrdom and its Application by the Contemporary Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas" at the 22nd Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference at the University of Chicago.
  • Mark Lilly received the NELC department Best Graduate Student Award and the Arabic Penmanship Award at the 2007 spring reception.
  • Bilal Maanaki received the NELC department Best AI Award at the 2007 spring reception.
  • Brian Phillips recently received two FLAS fellowships: one for Summer 2007, towards intensive study of Intermediate Kazakh, and one for the 2007-2008 academic year towards study of Advanced Kazakh.
  • Michael Roose received the NELC department Best Undergraduate Student Award at the 2007 spring reception. He was also inducted into IU's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and completed a departmental honors thesis.
  • Patrick Schoettmer received the NELC department M. Amin Zaki Award at the 2007 spring reception.
  • Ozair Shariff was inducted into IU's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
  • Samuel Shepson spent a semester abroad at the American University in Cairo. (Fall 2005)
  • Andrew Spath received his double major in NELC and Political Science in May 2007, and completed a departmental honors thesis in Political Science. He will be pursuing doctoral studies in Political Science at Rutgers University. Over the past year, he has also made a number of outreach presentations on Middle Eastern politics and history.
  • Naomi Spector is studying Arabic language and literature at Al-Akhwayn University in Ifrane, Morocco for summer 2007.
  • Purvi Thacker received an internship for summer 2007 with the United Nations in New York. She will be working with their publications and peacekeeping operations units.
  • Caitlin Wesaw completed a departmental honors thesis.

NELC Department Chair and Professor John Walbridge Receives Guggenheim Fellowship

We are extremely pleased to announce that NELC Department Chair and Professor John Walbridge is the recipient of a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship. Professor Walbridge will be conducting research on Shirazi's synthesis of the philosophical foundations of Galenic medicine.

New MEISP Outreach Coordinator

We are happy to announce the appointment of Liese Hilgeman as the new outreach coordinator for the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Program.

Liese has long experience in outreach and related areas. She was the director of exhibitions and events for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the director and curator of the Herron Gallery at IUPUI, and curator of exhibitions at the Hudson River Museum in New York, among other positions. We are very happy to welcome her to NELC-MEISP!

NELC Student Association

The NELC Graduate Student Organization is now merging with the NELC Undergraduate Student Organization, in order to better represent the interests of all of our students. Henceforth, the group shall be known as the NELC Student Association (NSA). Further information, including future projects, will be placed on the website in the coming weeks.

NELC Receives Grants to Support the 2007 Middle Eastern Arts Festival

We are very pleased to announce that the NELC Graduate Student Organization (NELC GSO), in pursuing additional funding for the Middle East Arts Festival this year, applied for and received three separate grants.

The Indiana University Student Association (IUSA), which is the government of the Indiana University’s student body, elected to provide funds to bring visiting faculty member Abdul Musawwir, from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale's Studio Arts Program, to Bloomington.

Similarly, the Office of Diversity Education awarded an OMA/DE Mini Grant for this initiative. OMA/DE Mini Grants are awarded to encourage networking and collaborative diversity programming between student groups or organizations, to improve the cultural climate at Indiana and provide educational experiences which lead to a better understanding of ethnic group issues.

Finally, the Lilly Endowment awarded the NELC GSO monies from their Movable Feast of the Arts fund. The award allowed the NELC GSO to bring Mohamed Shahin from Egypt to perform folk dances for children at the Monroe Public Library. These funds also made it possible for NELC to work with the Monroe Historical Center of Bloomington to launch an archival project, "Diverse Faces and Places of Monroe County," whereby the personal photos and oral histories of Arab residents were preserved for educational purposes. The Lilly Endowment exists to support the causes of religion, education and community development. The Endowment affords special emphasis to projects that promote leadership, education, and financial self-sufficiency in the nonprofit, charitable sector.

In all, the NELC GSO was able to secure an additional three thousand dollars in grant money for the festival.

Thanks to everyone who helped make our 2007 Arts Festival such a success! We look forward to seeing you in 2008 for next year's festival.

Alef Ba -- Children's Program at Monroe Public Library seeks volunteers

On Saturday mornings, from 10am-noon, graduate students from our program and the Education Department provide fun, interactive introduction to the written and spoken language of Arabic for Preschoolers through age 7 and their caregivers at the Monroe Public Library. Currently, we need responsible volunteers to assist the children with their cultural/language activities. Knowledge of Arabic not required, though preferred. If you are interested in volunteering, and enjoy working with kids, don't hesitate to contact our office at 812-855-5993 or nelcmesp@indiana.edu for more information on how to get involved!