Date: Wednesday,  December 9, 2020
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm talk, followed by Q & A
Online Platform: Zoom

Get Her Book: The Mind of an Entrepreneur: Discover Mental Strategies For Navigating The World of Business
Podcast: The Mind of An Entrepreneur

Wendy is an International Entrepreneur. She is currently President and the Director of Business Affairs for the Minimally Invasive Vascular Centers where, along with her Business Partner, she has developed a progressive new business model for outpatient surgery centers and micro-hospitals. The brand has recently expanded to major markets throughout the U.S. and Africa. Their state-of-the-art facilities have revolutionized the delivery of advanced healthcare services to marginalized communities around the world.

Wendy is a Franchisee Partner that owns and operates an Award-Winning Massage Envy in Downtown Silver Spring Maryland. She was recently nominated for Franchisee of the Year 2019 and also sits on the National Franchisee Advertising Board for Massage Envy.

Wendy is the creator and developer of the Mind of an Entrepreneur™ brand that currently produces and facilitates books, radio shows and film projects on business development and mental strategies for navigating the world of business. The Mind of an Entrepreneur™ brand also focuses on helping members of marginalized communities open the pathways to wealth and abundance through owning and operating businesses and introducing much needed goods and services into their communities.

Wendy has also expanded her Business Consulting Practice to include Hospital Investments, Turnaround Consulting and Healthcare Acquisitions. One of her new exciting ventures includes the reclamation and renovation of a turn of the century mansion that was once the former home of the Honorable Elijah Muhamad. The building will be the new home of the Mind of an Entrepreneur™ that will serve as a cultural exhibit as well as, a training and development center for entrepreneurs from marginalized communities around the world.

As a Business Consultant, Executive Project Manager and Business Thought Leader, she has trained thousands of entrepreneurs and emerging leaders and managed over $500 million in Projects. She has served as Crisis Manager for many Corporations, Executives and Celebrities.

Dr. Shabana Mir contributed a chapter to The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender, titled “French Muslim women’s clothes: the secular state’s religious war against racialized women.” The Handbook is an educational reference that responds to political scrutiny of Islam and Muslims, which often centers on gendered concerns.

Dr. Mir also spoke on the important topic of “Islam, Race, & COVID-19: A Conversation” hosted by Boston University. The conversation was moderated by Dr. Kecia Ali. Panelists included, Dr. Kameelah Rashad and Dr. Donna Auston.

Linda Maryam Millan is an AIC Senior finishing her Civic Engagement Internship this semester at the Center for Changing Lives (CCL) in Chicago. CCL is a Financial Opportunity Center. It offers financially focused services to individuals and families who may be currently experiencing homelessness, housing or financial hardship, or in need of self improvement goals in any of those areas. CCL works with clients through financial, employment, and resource development to advance the skills and capacities needed to achieve their life’s vision. Linda works as an Outreach and Community Engagement Coordinator using her project and program management talents and bilingual skills in Spanish and English for new member orientation and for managing volunteers on the Chicago Connect program (a free Internet plan for qualifying Chicago Public School families). As part of her internship, she has already worked on process improvements to the new member intake process. CCL is unique in its approach. It believes that everybody is resourceful, creative and whole. The coaches are there for support and to provide tools for members to self-actualize and achieve their personal goals.

“I want to uplift Linda Maryam Millan, who is extremely thoughtful, diligent, and brings her passion for community service, as a non-profit employee, to her study of Sociology, always seeking practical applications for her theoretical knowledge.” -Dr. Shabana Mir

Date: Thursday,  November 12, 2020
Time: 6:30 pm -7:30 pm talk including Q & A
Online Platform: Zoom

Laila Al-Arian is an Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker, investigative journalist, author and executive producer of “Fault Lines,” a U.S.-based documentary and current affairs program on Al Jazeera English. In her talk, she will discuss what led her to journalism, including the coverage of Islam, Muslims and the Middle East when she was growing up in the 80s and 90s, the challenges she has faced along the way, how storytelling can be effective and the importance of having Muslims involving, working and leading in one of the most influential spaces in public life.

Laila Al-Arian is a Washington DC-based journalist and the executive producer of Fault Lines, an award-winning current affairs program on Al Jazeera English. She has produced documentaries on subjects ranging from the Trump administration’s Muslim ban to the impact of the heroin epidemic on children and an investigation into factory conditions producing garments for Walmart and Gap in Bangladesh. For her work, she has been honored with two News and Documentary Emmys, a Peabody Award, a Robert F Kennedy Award in journalism, Overseas Press Club award, National Headliner Award, and has been nominated for 14 News and Documentary Emmys.

Prior to joining Fault Lines, Laila worked for Al Jazeera English for four years, covering everything from Guantanamo Bay’s youngest detainee to the re-settlement of Iraqi refugees in the U.S. She received a BA in English literature from Georgetown University and an M.S. from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Salon, The Independent, and other publications, and she is co-author of the book Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians.

“Muhammet’s contributions in class are insightful. He presents critical questions in class, which reflect his dedication to his studies. Muhammet has a great sense of humor and is a joy to teach. I expect great things from Muhammet!”

– Dr. Carly Anger

Prof. Feryal Salem has been quite busy the past several months completing a number of articles and book chapters that are currently in press. She is also scheduled to present at two academic conferences this year. Prof. Salem contributed a chapter to the Routledge Handbook on Islam and Gender titled, “The Emergence of Women’s Scholarship in Damascus During the Late Twentieth Century.” She has also submitted an article to Brill’s Journal of Islamic Ethics titled, “Tashkopruzade’s Commentary on the Ethical Philosophy of Adud al-Din al-Iji.” This is scheduled to be published early next year in a special issue on Islamic Ethics and Spirituality.

Dr. Salem completed another book chapter over the summer titled “ʿAḍud al-Dīn Ījī’s al-Akhlāq al-ʿAḍudiyya and Some Notes on its Commentaries,” set to print in a compendium on Islamic Philosophy and Ethics edited by Mohammed Rustom, Bilal Orfali, and Atif Khalil and published by the American University of Beirut Press with an expected publication date of January 2021. Prof. Salem also has an article in press titled, “The Challenges and Opportunities in Training Muslim Chaplaincy Students for a Burgeoning New Field,” for a special issue of the Journal of Pastoral Theology on chaplaincy with contributors from all over the country.

Additionally, Prof. Salem is scheduled to present a paper titled “Philosophy and Mysticism in the Ethics of Adud al-Din al-Iji,” at the annual 2020 Middle Eastern Studies Association conference. She will also be presenting a paper titled, “Decolonizing Christian-Muslim Relations: Historical Frameworks, Premises, and Power Dynamics,” for the 2020 American Academy of Religion annual conference. Finally, Prof. Salem is continuing to lead in a partnership between AIC and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago by co-teaching a class with LSTC professor, Dr. Mark Swanson for a second year. This year they are teaching a joint AIC-LSTC course titled, “Themes in Christian-Muslim Theology,” with a total of sixteen Christian and Muslim graduate students from both AIC and LSTC.

Dr. Shabana Mir was invited to speak on “Critical Talk” with Dr. Aminah McCloud Al-Deen on October 20th.

Dr. Mir discussed her book, American Muslim Women on Campus. Together with Dr. Al-Deen, Dr Mir talked about the many contributions Muslim women have made to the field of academia throughout history.

On September 23 and 24, AIC President Timothy Gianotti participated in a virtual international academic conference on “The Concept of Death and the Concept of Life in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” This conference was part of a larger, longer-term research initiative, “Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses (KCID),” sponsored by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany. Dr. Gianotti’s presentation was on conceptual understandings of death and the afterlife in Islam.

Date: Wednesday,  September 16, 2020
Time: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm talk, followed by Q & A
Online Platform: Zoom

What are some of the challenges in the elusive quest for racial equity in education in the United States? What policies and practices serve to handicap or reinforce these inequities? Where do institutions fall short? Where do they succeed? This talk will grapple with these questions while exploring some key educational inequities, at every level from Pre-K though College, with a focus on the work at several Chicagoland area institutions.

Aisha El-Amin holds a PhD in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Masters of Education from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Science in Management Studies from the University of Maryland- European Division. Dr. El-Amin is passionate about issues of equity and justice in education. These passions have led her to become an Illinois State Board of Education Certified K-9th grade teacher, an adjunct professor at several colleges and universities, an elected school board member for Community Consolidated School District #168, appointed board member for Routledge journal, Religion and Education, board vice-chair for Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Chicago and board member with Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). Additionally, Dr. El-Amin has served in several roles at University of Illinois at Chicago as a multi-million dollar education grant manager, director of The Council on Teacher Education, Associate Dean of Student Affairs in the College of Education and currently Associate Provost and Chief of Staff for the Provost.

Dr. El-Amin’s education and experience have allowed her to be the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the Muslim Women’s Alliance 2016 Inspiring Women’s Award, Diversifying Faculty in Illinois Fellowship, Illinois Veterans Grant and DePaul/Glenview Clinical Model Scholar and Rainbow Push Excellence in Education Award. Dr. El-Amin’s activism is best captured in her historic leadership roles with various Chicago based organizations. Some of her roles included coordinating committee member of Teachers for Social Justice, co-founder of Bridging the Gap Inc., co-chair of Inner City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) Takin’ it to the Streets event logistics, and co-chair of the Public School Initiative for Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC).