curriculum vitae highlights
EDUCATION
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Ph.D. Religious Studies, Islamic Studies Track (Graduation December 2019)
Dissertation: “Mother of Her Father: Contemporary Devotion to Fatima al-Zahra in Iran”
Advisor: Dr. Juliane Hammer
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
Master of Arts, Islamic Studies (2011)
Thesis: “The Jadids in Bukhara: Juxtaposing the Approaches to Reform of Aini and Fitrat”
Advisor: Dr. A. Uner Turgay
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Bachelor of Arts, High Honors, Religious Studies (2008)
PUBLICATIONS
2020 “Negotiating the State and the Persianate: Ernst’s Living Legacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.” In Words of Experience: Translating Islam with Carl W. Ernst, ed. Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst and Brannon M. Wheeler (Equinox: United Kingdom, 2020).
2017 “Who Am I? Merely a Player.” In Fabricating Identities, ed. Russell McCutcheon (Equinox: United Kingdom, 2017).
FELLOWSHIPS AND HONORS
2018 National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar Participant: The Bhagavad Gita: Ancient Texts, Modern Readers, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
2018 Wabash Center Teaching Seminar for Doctoral Students, New York, New York
2017-2018 Dissertation Completion Fellowship, The Graduate School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2017 Graduate and Professional Student Federation Domestic Travel Award, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2017 Travel Grant, The Graduate School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (ACLA Conference in Utrect, Netherlands)
2016-2017 Ackland Art Museum Graduate Fellow, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2016 Off-Campus Dissertation Fellowship, The Graduate School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Chicago; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Iran)
2014-2016 Summer Roshan Fellowship for Excellence in Persian Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Turkey; Iran)
2016 Future Faculty Fellowship Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2015 American Academy of Religion Travel Grant Award
2015 Kenneth Gaines Smith Summer Research Fellowship, Graduate School of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2014 American Institute of Iranian Studies Pre-doctoral Dissertation Research Travel Fellowship(Iran)
2014 Graduate and Professional Student Federation Domestic Travel Award, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2013 Connaught Summer Institute of Islamic Studies, Graduate Fellow, University of Toronto
2013 Center for Global Initiatives Pre-Dissertation Summer Travel Grant, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Turkey)
SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS AND CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
2018 “Review: The Baluch, Sunnism, and the State in Iran: From Tribal to Global,” Graduate Student Book Review Colloquium on Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, George Mason University, October 11.
2018 “Fatima al-Zahra and the Visual and Material Culture of Contemporary Iran,” Ernst Herzfeld Society Annual Meeting, Strasbourg, France, July 5-7.
2017 “How to Make Department Service Work for You,” with Shannon Trosper Schorey, Student Lounge Roundtable. American Academy of Religion. Boston, MA, November 18-22.
2017 “Remembering at Every Age: The Image of Fatima in Post‐War Literatures.” Modern Iranian Literature: Struggles in Memory and Identity Seminar, American Comparative Literature Association, Utrecht, Netherlands, July 6-9.
2016 “Graduate Student Teaching: In the Classrooms and with your Peers,” with Shannon Trosper Schorey, Student Lounge Roundtable. American Academy of Religion. San Antonio, TX, November 18-22.
2016 “Doing Research in Iran: Strategies and Experiences,” Middle Eastern Studies Association, Boston, MA, November 18.
2015 “In Fatima’s Footsteps: Commemorating the Daughter of the Prophet.” Religion, Film, and Visual Culture Group. American American Academy of Religion. Atlanta, GA, November 21-24.
2015 Facilitator, “Networking Like the Job is in Hand,” Student Lounge Roundtable. American American Academy of Religion. Atlanta, GA, November 21-24.
2014 “Beyond Decoding: Ahl al-Bayt and Cultural Production in Contemporary Iran.” Material Islam Seminar. American Academy of Religion. San Diego, CA, November 21-25.
2014 “Sufis in the City: Thinking of Style and Practice in the Lives of Modern Sufi Students.” Negotiating Muslim Modernities, Workshop 3 in Being Muslim: How Local Islam Overturns Narratives of Exceptionalism Series, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, September 17-21.
2014 “Reframing Revelation: Comparing the Perspectives of Rahman, Abu Zayd, and Soroush.” Conversations in Islamic Studies Roundtable, Study of Islam Section. Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion. Atlanta, Georgia, March 7-9.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota (2019-2020)
“Introduction to Islam,” “Islam, Race, Politics,” “The Qur’an and the Prophet,” “Gender in Islam,” “Modern Islam”
Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire (2019)
“Material Religion,” “Qur’an and Prophet,” “Introduction to Islam,” “Gender in Islam”
Purchase College—SUNY, Purchase, New York (Present)
“West Meets Non-West,” “Free Speech, Heresy, Gender, and Islamic Societies”
University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill (2011-2018)
Online Courses: Religions of Asia, Islamic Civilizations
Teaching Fellow (Instructor of Record): Women/Gender/Islam, Religious Things
2011-2015 Teaching Assistant
LANGUAGES
Reading proficiency in Arabic (Modern Standard, Classical), Persian, French and Spanish Spoken proficiency in Persian, Arabic