Hina Azam
Dr. Hina Azam teaches courses in Islamic Studies such as Islamic theology, Islamic law, the Qur'an, Qur'an interpretation, and Islamic feminism, as well as a course on comparative religions of the Middle East. Her research focuses on women/gender/sexuality in Islam, ethics, and pedagogy. She supervises or serves as reader for undergraduate and graduate theses and dissertations across the University. She is currently the Graduate Advisor for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and also serves on the Graduate Assembly, the Curriculum and Design Committee for the College of Liberal Arts, and the Steering Committee for the Jefferson Center for Core Texts and Ideas. Dr. Azam is a faculty affiliate/GSC member with the Department of Religious Studies and the Center for Women and Gender Studies. She is a Provost Teaching Fellow, currently working on a project entitled "Teaching the University." Her book, Sexual Violation in Islamic Law, won the American Historical Association's 2016 James Henry Breasted award for pre-modern history. In 2019, the Alcalde named Dr. Azam as one of the TexasTen, in recognition of her outstanding teaching. Dr. Azam oversees the Islamic Studies Reading Group, the Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (ISMES) Colloquium, and the undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Islamic Studies housed in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies.
Teaching the University: Enhancing Student Understanding and Appreciation of the University
My project is intended to address a lack of understanding among most undergraduate students of the university both as an institution and as a space in which intellectual life is pursued. This lack of understanding among undergraduates is intertwined, I believe, with a broader lack of appreciation for higher education/academia in our cultural and civic life.