Your future, our focus
POWELL, Wyo. - Issa Ziddy, a senior lecturer at the State University of Zanzibar in Tanzania, is on the Northwest College campus during the month of April through the Fulbright Visiting Specialist Program: Direct Access to the Muslim World.
Ziddy's specialization is curriculum development and methodology of teaching Islamic studies and Arabic language. In addition to teaching history of education and the methodology of teaching, he is also the director of the Institute of Kiswahili and Foreign Languages.
Community groups and organizations are encouraged to take advantage of Ziddy's month-long residence to reserve him as a speaker. One of his already-scheduled presentations is a program about Tanzania at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, in Room 70 of the Fagerberg Building on campus. This presentation is free and open to the public, but smaller closed-group programs are also possible. To arrange Ziddy as a speaker, e-mail Mary Baumann or call (307) 754-6138.
During a welcoming reception on campus this week, Ziddy told his audience he very much wants to learn how Americans, despite all their different social backgrounds, ideas, religious ethics and political parties, are still able to live together and build their nation.
He hopes to apply this knowledge when he returns to his homogenous home country (90 percent of the population is Muslim) to promote a different quality of thinking, programming, decision making, arguing and dealing with issues of equality and tolerance among people.
The author of two books, Ziddy attended college in Sudan, earning his doctorate at the International University of Africa. He chairs numerous charitable and civic organizations, and appears regularly on radio and television in Zanzibar. Ziddy is currently focusing his energies on relations between Muslims and Christians and how to use religious ethics to promote peace, stability and security in his homeland.
Recognized for his research on a variety of Islamic-related issues, Ziddy has presented his findings at conferences from Germany to South Africa. His current research includes Islam and democracy, Islam and women's rights, and Islam and HIV/AIDS.
Ziddy said he's thankful for the opportunity at Northwest College to share human development and civilization as one nation and so to make the world a safer place to live at this time of globalization.