Munir Jiwa

B.A., Simon Fraser University; M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School; M.Phil. and Ph.D., Columbia University

He is the founding director of the Center for Islamic Studies and Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union. His research interests include Islam and Muslims in the West, media, cultural production, aesthetics, post-colonialism, globalization, and religious pluralism and identity. Since 1995, he has worked with the World Conference of Religions for Peace, a U.N.-affiliated organization, working on interfaith programs in Bosnia, Japan, the Middle East, and West Africa. He worked with the Ford Foundation-funded “Muslims in NYC Project” at Columbia University from 1998-2004. He is currently revising a manuscript for publication tentatively entitled: Imaging Islam, Mediating Muslims: Aesthetics, Politics and Religion.

Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé

B.A., Vassar College; M.Div., St. Vladimir's Eastern Orthodox Seminary; Dr. Theol., University of Bern

He is a GTU Core Doctoral Faculty Member, Professor of Cultural Studies/Islamic Studies, and Dean of the Faculty at Starr King School for the Ministry. His current research and teaching interests include Study of Islam, History of Sufism, History of Islam in the Americas, History of Islam in Africa, African Religions in Diaspora, and Jewish-Muslim Interconnections.

Marianne Farina

B.F.A., Parsons School of Design/New School for Social Research University; M.A., Santa Clara University; Ph.D., Boston College

She is a religious sister in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, IN; Assistant Professor of Catholic Theology and Philosophical Ethics at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (DSPT); and Professor of Philosophy and Theology at DSPT. Her dissertation examines the moral teachings of Hamid al-Ghazali and Thomas Aquinas. Her areas of expertise include Catholic Moral Theology, Philosophical Ethics, Ethics in Islam, Christian and Islamic Spirituality, and Faith Formation.