Co-Directors Named for Islamic Chaplaincy Program

Prof. Feryal Salem will join Prof. Timur Yuskaev as the co-director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program, Hartford Seminary President Heidi Hadsell has announced.

The Seminary’s Islamic Chaplaincy Program trains Muslim chaplains for work in institutions such as colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and the military. The impetus for the program came in the 1990s after the U.S. government approached the Seminary asking for such a program to address the need for Muslim chaplains in the military. Hartford Seminary’s Islamic Chaplaincy Program, officially launched in 2003, remains the only accredited such program in the United States, and graduates have been named to positions in many prominent institutions across the country, most notably at Yale University, Williams College, and Princeton University.

Prof. Yuskaev also has been appointed co-editor of The Muslim World. Prof. Yahya Michot, who has served as the editor, will work with Prof. Yuskaev as co-editor. Founded in 1911, and sponsored by Hartford Seminary since 1938, The Muslim World journal is edited and published quarterly by the Macdonald Center and Wiley-Blackwell. The journal includes research articles on historical and contemporary topics, comparative essays and book reviews. At least one issue each year is devoted to a unifying theme, such as the most recent issue on Muslim Women and the Challenge of Authority.

In addition, Prof. Salem will become the director of the Imam and Muslim Community Leadership Program. This program was started in 2010 in cooperation with the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, VA, and its Fairfax Institute. The program prepares male and female students to understand and affirm the variety of religious commitments they will encounter as spiritual caregivers and leaders of Muslim communities that are engaging with secular and other religious communities in North America.