Saturday, December 2 | 5:30 - 9 PM
Li Lu (Director/Producer) born in Suzhou, China, and raised in Sugar Land, TX. Her award-winning projects have been supported by Sundance, Firelight Media, Ford Foundation, Austin Film Society, Gotham, and others. Her narrative feature, television, and documentary work can be streamed on Hulu, Disney+, Amazon, and Netflix. A lover of all storytelling, Li strives to create bold and fearless projects spanning genre and form.
Dr. Dalia Fahmy is Associate Professor of Political Science at Long Island University where she teaches courses on US Foreign Policy, World Politics, International Relations, Military and Defense Policy, Causes of War, and Politics of the Middle East. Dr. Fahmy is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Policy in Washington DC, and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights and UNESCO Chair at Rutgers University for 2018. She has published several articles in academic journals focusing on democratization and most recently on the effects of Islamophobia on US foreign policy. She has given several briefings on the future of democracy in the Middle East. She has been interviewed by and written editorials in various media outlets including ABC, CBS, CBC, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, the Huffington Post, the Immanent Frame, the Washington Post, and appears often on Aljazeera. She has presented her research in various venues including Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, UCLA, The Middle East Institute, The Asia Society, The World Bank, The Wilson Center and The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.
Dr. Fahmy's books include The Rise and Fall of The Muslim Brotherhood and the Future of Political Islam (forthcoming), and two co-edited volumes Illiberal Intelligentsia and the Future of Egyptian Democracy, and International Relations in a Changing World.
Asad Dandia is the Outreach and Partnerships Manager at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), where he is responsible for developing programmatic partnerships, ensuring that ISPU research reaches key audiences, developing and maintaining relationships with ISPU scholars, and overseeing impact education projects. Before joining the ISPU, Asad was the Community Program Coordinator at the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), where he co-published a groundbreaking report on Islamophobia in New York City after surveying hundreds of Muslim New Yorkers. He has worked for the American Muslim community for his entire adult life, and his writing has been published in the Washington Post, Al-Jazeera English, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. He holds a Master's Degree in Islamic Studies from Columbia University.
Dr. Marwa Assar is a psychologist and psycho-spiritual teacher who specializes in providing counseling as well as psycho-spiritual education that are rooted in Islamic teachings and approached through an Islamic Psychological Lens. Alongside her constant pursuit of Islamic studies, Dr. Marwa has studied psychology extensively for 10 years. In addition to completing both her bachelors and masters degree in psychology, she has also completed her doctorate of psychology (PsyD) degree at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Her doctoral research focus was on Islam & Psychology as she completed a research study titled, "An Islamic Psychological Approach to Psychotherapy (2017)" highlighting what Islamic teachings have to offer to the world of psychological wellness and psycho-therapy with Muslim clients. Through her work as both a psychologist and teacher, she is dedicated to empowering others on a spiritual, mental, and emotional level, and has spent over a decade extensively exploring and merging traditional Islamic teachings with psychology to help others cultivate greater psychological health, navigate their human experience beautifully, and tackle the spiritual & psychological barriers that come between them and experiencing healthy, fulfilling relationships with God, themselves, and others.
In addition to her studies, Dr. Marwa's training as a psychologist involved working in diverse settings from an inpatient substance abuse treatment facility, to schools, private practice, and mental health organizations. Dr. Marwa is also The founder of The H.O.M.E Institute, which is named after her Heart Over Mind & Ego (H.O.M.E) approach to psycho-spiritual wellness, a methodology she conceptualized through an Islamic psychological lens to help others understand their psychological and spiritual design and experience greater inner peace and alignment. Through her work at The H.O.M.E Institute, Dr. Marwa offers both online and physical spaces for the hearts of others where students can learn the heart-centered knowledge and tools they need to thrive spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
NOTE: This event is open to everyone however, all non-NYU guests must complete and submit our building access form in order to attend the event. Upon arrival, visitor must present a physical, government-issued photo ID. Digital copies will not be accepted. No exceptions. 