CV

For a PDF version of my CV, please click here.

Current Employment

New Business Development Manager, Anera, Washington, DC, 2019-Present
I currently serve as the New Business Development Manager and lead research efforts to identify potential funds and grant opportunities to support Anera’s mission of sponsoring and supporting schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and women’s empowerment within Palestinian and Syrian refugee communities as well as Jordanian and Lebanese host communities. With my team of grant writers and support staff, I secure grants and in-kind support from private foundations, government and multilateral agencies, including USAID, UNDP, UNICEF, the Al Ghurair Foundation, Zakat International, and Islamic Relief USA.

Adjunct Instructor, Departments of Political Science and Religion, 2012-Present
Eastern West Virginia Community & Technical College, Moorefield, West Virginia

Previous Academic Employment

  • Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Religion and Philosophy, 2016-2017
    Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia
  • Adjunct Instructor, Departments of Religion & Culture and History, 2016-2017
    Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia
  • Visiting Instructor, Department of Religion and Philosophy, 2014-2016
    Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia
  • Graduate Instructor, Departments of Religion & Culture and Political Science, 2012-2014
    Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia
  • Adjunct Instructor, Department of Political Science, 2012-2014
    Radford University, Radford, Virginia
  • Graduate/Adjunct Instructor, Department of Religion, 2007-2011
    The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

Education

Ph.D. – Political and Cultural Thought, 2016
The Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical and Cultural Thought
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA

  • Dissertation: Marriage, the Family, and Security in Israel: The Paradox of the Liberal State
  • Committee: Scott Nelson (Chair), Rachel Scott, Clair Apodaca, François Debrix
  • Graduate Certificate: Future Professoriate

M.A. – Religion, 2009
The University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Thesis:  A History of Jews in Greek Gymnasia from the Hellenistic Period through the Late Roman Period

B.A. – Politics, 2006, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC

Certificate – Arabic, 2004, Ahl Al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan 

Publications

Books:

Peer Reviewed Book Chapters:

Peer Reviewed Articles:

Book Reviews/Essays:

Teaching Proficiencies and Competencies

  • Course Level:  Undergraduate
  • Course Formats:  Lectures, seminars, experiential, directed study, and senior thesis.
  • Alternative Learning Environments: Online (through Moodle, Blackboard, D2L, and Sakai); Learning Abroad/On Location (Lebanon, Japan)
  • Disciplines: Religion, Political Science, and Political Theory
  • Subject Areas:  Comparative politics, comparative religion, qualitative methods, social science methods, world religions, western religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), religion and politics, Middle East and North Africa, Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel studies, Palestine studies, Arab and Middle East studies

Course Development

Roanoke College

Religion

  • 270: Explorations in Religion and Society – Religion and Politics of the Middle East
    This course is designed to focus on the interplay between religion and politics in the greater Middle East during the 20th and 21st  Special focus is paid to gender and diaspora.  Topics discussed include the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Saudi Arabia, and ISIS.

Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College

Philosophy

  • 299: SP – World Problems
    Students in this course engage in moral reasoning by reading the accounts of camp survivors, slaves, and victims of poverty and by examining important events in the 20th and 21st centuries such as the conflict in Cambodia, the Holocaust, and life in urban America.

Teaching

Roanoke College

Religion

  • 496: Honors Project (Directed Independent Study) – Spring 2015 – Served as Committee Chair for Senior Thesis by Shaina Lidd entitled “Haradim and Heresy:  Women’s Rights in a Divided Israel”
  • 295: Methods and Theories in the Study of Religion – Fall 2015
  • 270: Explorations in Religion and Society:  Religion and Politics of the Middle East – Spring 2017
  • 204: Islam – Spring 2016
  • 130: The Jewish Tradition – Spring 2015
  • 105: Living Religions – Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016; Summer 2017 (online)

Intellectual Inquiry

  • 120: The Moral of Our Story – Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017
  • 110: Who or What Is God? – Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

International Studies/Political Science

  • 4985: Regional and International Organizations and Security – Spring 2014

Religion

  • 1014: Asian Religions – Fall 2013
  • 1024: Judaism, Christianity and Islam – Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Summer 2013 (online), Summer 2014 (online), Fall 2016 (online)

History

  • 3654: The Arab-Israeli Dispute – Spring 2017

Eastern West Virginia Community & Technical College (Online)

Political Science

  • 201: American Government and Politics – Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2017
  • 202: State and Local Government – Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016; Summer 2017

Religion

  • 105: Understanding the New Testament – Fall 2013, Fall 2014
  • 130: Introduction to World Religions – Summer 2012, Spring 2013, Summer 2013, Spring 2014, Summer 2014, Summer 2015, Summer 2016

Philosophy

  • 299: World Problems – Fall 2016

Radford University

Political Science

  • 110: Introduction to Politics – Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014

The University of Georgia

Religion

  • 1002: Introduction to Eastern Religions – Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010,
    Spring 2011
  • 1001: Introduction to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009

Presentations

Conference Presentations:

  • “Thinking Beyond the PhD,” ASPECT Conference Roundtable Discussion/Workshop, Annual Meeting of the ASPECT Graduate Student Conference, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, March 2018.
  • Tearing Down the Political Meḥitzah:  Equality in Representation for Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women.”  “Women’s Leadership and Gender Quotas” Panel, Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 2017.
  • “Equality in Representation:  Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Women in Politics.”  “Women, Gender, and Religion II” Panel, Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion, Raleigh, North Carolina, March 2017
  • “Heroine Mothers: Women’s Bodies, Neo-Natal Policy, and ‘Demographic Warfare’ in Israel.”
    • “Marriage and Family” Panel, Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, San Diego, California, March 2016
    • “Rethinking Race & Gender in a Transnational Context” Panel Annual meeting of the ASPECT Graduate Student Conference, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, April 2016
  • “Eretz Yisrael:  Political Zionism from the Consideration of its Jewish Critics.”  “Religious Contestations” Panel, Annual Meeting of the ASPECT Graduate Student Conference, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, March 2015.
  • “Black, Poor, and Jewish:  The Ostracism of Ethiopian Jews in Modern Israel.”
    • “Open Borders, Migration, and Labor Shadows: From Theorizing Causes to Proposing Interventions” Panel, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Tampa, Florida, April 2014.
    • “Cultural Displacements and Transnational Governance” Panel, Annual Meeting of the ASPECT Graduate Student Conference, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, March 2014.
  • “The Impossible Pit:  Satan, Hell, and Teaching Doctor Who.” Doctor Who and Religion Conference, The University of Manchester, Manchester, England, November 2013.
  • “Marriage, Religious Law, and Identity in Israel.”  “Transnationality, Borders, and the Environment” Panel Annual Meeting of the ASPECT Graduate Student Conference, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, March 2013.
  • “Foucault’s Interdisciplinarity:  Foucaultian Archaeology as a Methodology for Interdisciplinary Studies.” In absentia.  Annual meeting of the Association for Integrative Studies, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, October 2012.
  • “Women as Bhikkuni at the Carolina Buddhist Vihara.”  Annual Meeting of Religious Pluralism in the United States – The Southern States Conference (The Pluralism Project), Atlanta, Georgia, November 2003.

Invited Presentations:

  • “An Ingathering of the Exiles: Jewish and Muslim Women’s Rights within a Jewish and Democratic State,” Model United Nations Club, Hollins University, 2018.
  • “Who or What is God?”  Sponsored by Freethinkers at Virginia Tech, October 2016.
  • “Jewish and Muslim Stereotypes in Children’s and Youth Films.” “Stereotypes in Pop Cultures Series” sponsored by the Diversity Scholars program at Virginia Tech, April 2014.
  • “Hannah Arendt:  Why Now?”  Presentation and panel discussion as part of the “Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem: The Banality of Evil and the Politics of Responsibility” panel, Virginia Tech, November 2013.
  • Response to “The Currency of Kinship:  Trading Families and Trading on Family in Colonial French India” by Danna Agmon. ASPECT Working Papers Series, Virginia Tech, October 2013.
  • “Leadership and Team Spirit.”  Invited paper presented in conjunction with Cambridge Youth Business Fellowship for Chinese and Taiwanese Students, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 2012.

Assistantships

Northeastern University

Political Science and International Affairs

  • 4937: Government and Politics:  Learning Abroad – Summer 2013
  • 4938: Dialogue of Civilizations: Regional Engagement – Summer 2013

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Philosophy

  • 1304: Morality and Justice – Fall 2011, Spring 2012

The University of Georgia

Religion

  • 1001: Introduction to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – Spring 2007
  • 1006: World Religions – Fall 2006

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • Advisor of the Year, 2017, Student Life Council, Roanoke College
  • Virginia Tech Diversity Scholar, 2012-2013 Cohort, 2013, Graduate School, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • Lebanon Summer Fellowship, 2012, The National Council on US-Arab Relations
  • Model Arab League Lifetime Achievement Award, 2012, The National Council on US-Arab Relations
  • Model North Atlantic Treaty Organization Award, 2006, Converse College

Service

University Service

  • Faculty Member, Online Classes Exploratory Committee, Roanoke College, 2017
  • Associate Advisor, Model United Nations Club, Roanoke College, 2016-2017
  • Faculty Member, Academic Integrity Council, Roanoke College, 2015-2017
  • Faculty Member, Israel-Palestine Peace Month, Roanoke College, 2016
  • Faculty Advisor, Regional and International Organizations, Virginia Tech, 2011-2014
  • Student Committee Member, 2013 ASPECT Conference, Virginia Tech, 2012-2013
  • President, ASPECT Student Association, Virginia Tech, 2011-2012
  • Student Committee Member, ASPECT Faculty Search, Virginia Tech, 2012
  • Volunteer and Coordinator, University of Georgia, 2007-2008, Reacting to the Past curriculum, Athens in 403 B.C.

Conference Service and Contribution

  • Discussant, “Pursuing Interdisciplinarity” Panel, 2018 ASPECT Conference, 2018
  • Discussant, “Heritage and Memory” Panel, 2017 ASPECT Conference, 2017
  • Associate Advisor, Appalachia Regional Model Arab League Conference, 2016
  • Organizer and Faculty Advisor, Appalachia Regional Model Arab League Conference, 2014
  • Faculty Advisor, National University Model Arab League Conference, 2013-2014
  • Faculty Advisor, Southeast Regional Model Arab League Conference, 2011-2014
  • Faculty Advisor, Capital Area Regional Model Arab League Conference, 2013
  • Organizer, 2013 ASPECT Conference, 2013
  • Faculty Advisor, National Model North Atlantic Treaty Organization Conference, 2013
  • Judge, National University Model Arab League Conference, 2008-2009, 2011, 2018
  • Chair, Southeast Regional Model United Nations XXI, 2010
  • Chair and Judge, Southeast Regional Model Arab League Conference, 2004-2009
  • Chair, National University Model Arab League Conference, 2006
  • Secretary-General, National Model North Atlantic Treaty Organization Conference, 2006

Editing and Reviewing

  • Peer Reviewer, Politics & Gender:  The Journal of the Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association.  Cambridge University Press.  2017-Present
  • Editor Emeritus, SPECTRA:  The Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought Archive, 2013-2014
  • Editor-in-Chief, SPECTRA, 2012-2013
  • Layout Editor, “The Evolving Media’s Impact on Rhetoric and Society:  Critical Ethical Issues,” Proceedings of the 2010 International Colloquium on Communication, Elizabeth C. Fine and Gary W. Selnow, ed.  http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ICC/2010/index.html

Professional Memberships

  • Middle East Studies Association, 2017 – Present
  • American Political Science Association, 2017 – Present
  • Palestinian American Research Center, 2017 – Present
  • Association for Political Theory, 2016 – Present
  • Western Political Science Association, 2015 – Present
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