Dr. Homayra Ziad is a spiritual seeker, scholar-activist and nationally recognized interfaith practitioner, and she has served in spiritual care and leadership roles in both Muslim and interreligious settings. Earning her doctorate in Religious Studies from Yale, with a special interest in Islamic spirituality, philosophical Sufism, and Indo-Persian textual traditions, Dr. Ziad has served universities, seminaries, and faith-based nonprofits with her community-engaged teaching and scholarship grounded in equitable, compassionate relationship-building. She was Senior Lecturer and Director of the Program in Islamic Studies at Johns Hopkins University where she received the undergraduate teaching award, and was recognized for her innovative teaching and mentor
For two decades, Dr. Ziad has created educational and spiritual care programs that connect religion with the arts, public health, and mental health, and she has supported educators, activists, artists, and religious leaders in navigating pluralism and fostering networks of social change. While at Hopkins, she led a national faculty fellowship on community-engaged learning in Islamic Studies, partnered with American Muslim Health Professionals to mobilize students to address vaccine hesitancy and access in Muslim communities, and co-created Art, Religion and Cities with colleagues at Morgan State University and the Walters Art Museum. She also served on the founding teams of 99 Clay Vessels, an arts and social justice project by and for Muslim women, and Healing Khayal, a music and healing residency for young artists in Pakistan. Dr. Ziad was on the Board of the ACLU of Maryland and served for two years as Board President.
Dr. Ziad was founding co-chair of the American Academy of Religion’s (AAR) Interreligious and Interfaith Studies Group. She writes for academic and popular venues, consults on programs for film and media, and is co-editor of Words to Live By: Sacred Sources for Interreligious Engagement (Orbis Press, 2018). Most recently, she served as Director of Campus Partnerships at Interfaith America.
“We are so thrilled to have Dr. Homayra lead our Divinity Program and take our Hassan Institute to new levels of transformative engagement and impact. Her wisdom and pastoral spirit will bring so much guidance and support to our M.Div. students, and her rich interfaith experience and international network will elevate and expand the work of the Hassan Institute, in sha’ Allah. Welcome Dr. Homayra!”
Dr. Timothy J Gianotti, President
Distinguished University Professor, Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, John L. Esposito is Founding Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service. Past President of the American Academy of Religion and Middle East Studies Association of North America, Esposito has served as consultant to the U.S. Department of State and other agencies, European and Asian governments, corporations, universities, and media worldwide and ambassador for the UN Alliance of Civilizations and was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders and E. C. European Network of Experts on De-Radicalisation. He has received honorary doctorates from University of Toronto, the University of Sarajevo to name but a few, as well as the American Academy of Religion’s Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion, Pakistan’s Quaid-i-Azzam Award for Outstanding Contributions in Islamic Studies, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service Outstanding Teacher Award and Georgetown’s Career Research Achievement Award. Esposito’s more than 50 books include: Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think (with Dalia Mogahed), The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Islam and Politics; Makers of Contemporary Islam and Islam and Democracy (with John O. Voll), Islam: The Straight Path; Islam and Democracy and Makers of Contemporary Islam (with J. Voll); and Women in Muslim Family Law. Esposito’s books and articles have been translated into more than 45 languages. Esposito’s interviews and articles with newspapers, magazines, and the media in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Guardian, The Times of London, CNN, ABC Nightline, CBS, NBC, and the BBC. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Dr. Jeanette P. Esposito.
