Name: James Ford

Recipient Year: 2012

Major: Arabic

Description: James is a third year student and a member of the inaugural class of Zaytuna College; he is pursuing a B.A. in Arabic Language and Literature. He is currently also a certificate student in the Center for Islamic Studies (CIS) at the Graduate Theological Union. He previously attained a B.A. from Columbia University where he was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Scholar. During his undergraduate career and subsequently, his work in public health and advocacy as well as volunteer teaching has focused on facilitating social justice and empowerment of disenfranchised individuals and communities, including: homeless adults and those of lower socioeconomic means, refugee survivors of human rights abuses, autistic and Deaf children, and young people considered at-risk. In sha’ Allah James would like to pursue interdisciplinary graduate work focused on Islamic Political Thought and Interreligious Studies and become a proponent of justice for minority communities, particularly in the contexts of educational and civil rights.

School Name: Zaytuna College

Sponsor: Zaytuna Scholarship