Dr. Salam Khalid Al-Mahadin (Academic Coordinator and Professor of Contemporary Jordanian Culture)
Dr. Salam Khalid Al-Mahadin is Associate Professor of English at the American University of Madaba.  She earned her MSc in Translation and Interpreting and her PhD in Text-Linguistics and Discourse Analysis from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.   Dr. Al-Mahadin has over 14 years of teaching experience in cultural studies. Her research interests have focused on various aspects of politics of national identity, media studies, women's issues in Jordan and the Arab world and children's literature. She has translated several works into English and Arabic.

Dr. Khaled Abuamsha (Arabic Language Coordinator and Instructor of Arabic)
Dr. Khaled Abuamsha is a Curriculum Coordinator and Senior Lecturer of Arabic at the Qasid Institute and serves as an Arabic Language Coordinator and language instructor for AMIDEAST in Amman, Jordan. Since 1997 Dr. Abuamsha has been teaching and giving lectures at various academic institutions, including the International Islamic University in Malaysia, the University of Jordan, and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he was a visiting professor at the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages for most of 2012. Dr. Abuamsha holds a PhD in curriculum development and methods of teaching Arabic as a second language and is finishing his second PhD in linguistics. His research interests include proficiency measurement, methods of foreign language teaching, teacher training, foreign language program evaluation and curriculum design. He has written more than twenty books and papers and participated in several international conferences pertaining to Arabic teaching and linguistics.

Dr. Zaid Eyadat (Professor, The Arab Spring; Contemporary Islamic Thought)
Dr. Zaid Eyadat is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Jordan, where he serves as Chairman of Human Rights and Human Development Department. He earned his PhD in Political Science with distinction from the University of Southern California and has extensive experience in political risk analysis in global markets, foreign policy analysis, and public policy evaluation.  In addition, Dr. Eyadat works as an educator, researcher, human rights activist and youth worker, founding the All Jordan Youth Commission in 2001. He has advocated and developed youth programs for civic management, education, employment, capacity building, community development, involvement, and participation. In addition to his teaching, Dr. Eyadat also works at the Royal Hashemite Court, particularly in areas pertaining to youth, higher education and political development.

Dr. Waleed Gharaibeh (Professor, Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East and Environmental Issues in Jordan and the Middle East)
Dr. Waleed Gharaibeh is a faculty member at the University of Jordan.  He earned his BS in Biology at Yarmouk University in Jordan, his MS in Zoology at Texas Tech University and his Phd in Ecology and Evolution from the State University of New York, Stony Brook.  His doctoral dissertation dealt with the paternal origins of Arab pastoral nomads as reflected in modern patterns of population genetics.  Dr. Gharabieh’s academic interests cross over between population history, ecology and anthropology and his research is very multi-disciplinary in nature.  This is reflected in his publications, which have appeared in such widely disparate journals as Biological Psychiatry and Journal of Biosciences, and an edited volume entitled Modern Morphometrics in Physical Anthropology.  Among Dr. Gharaibeh’s outside interests are film and nature conservation.

Dr. Christina Zacharia Hawatmeh (Professor, Arab Society from Within and Community-Based Learning in the MENA Region)
Dr. Christina Zacharia Hawatmeh lectures at the University of Jordan, Department of International Studies.  She earned her BA in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley and an MA and PhD, also in Sociology, from the American University, Washington D.C.  She has published numerous articles and is co-author, with the late Samih K. Farsoun, of Palestine and the Palestinians (Westview Press, 1997).  More recently, she has co-authored a biography, A Promised Fulfilled: Elia Nuqul and His Business Odyssey (I.B. Tauris, 2008), with A.J.M. Wheatcroft.

Dr. Mohammad Rashid Rayyan (Professor, Radical Islamic Movements)
Dr. Mohammad Rashid Rayyan is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Sharia’h, University of Jordan, where he earned his BA and MA in Islamic Studies.  He earned his PhD in Islam at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, where his research explored the relationship between Islam and modernity.  Dr. Rayyan has lectured and taught courses in Islamic Studies and Arabic Language, lecturing in both Arabic and English.  He has developed training programs addressing youth violence and improving youth communication skills for the Amman City Council. 

Dr. Musa Shteiwi (Professor, Ethnic and Minority Relations in the Middle East and North Africa; Women in the Middle East)
Dr. Musa Shteiwi is founder and director of the Jordan Center for Social Research and Professor of Sociology at the University of Jordan.  He earned his PhD in Sociology from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio in 1991 and specializes in social policy, social development, gender and class equality, as well as unemployment and poverty. Dr. Shteiwi has served as a consultant to the Jordanian government, United Nations, and other research institutes and as Head of the Social Policy Committee under the National Economic and Social Council in Jordan.  During his sabbatical year (2006-07), he provided technical support on social policies for Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman, serving as Regional Advisor on Social Policies and Social Issues for UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia. He is especially skillful in qualitative and quantitative analysis, and an expert at conceptualizing, conducting and leading research projects, questionnaires, and public opinion polls.  He has played key roles in national projects, including the Human Development Report for Jordan and the Annual Social Development Reports.

Dr. Lucine Taminian (Professor, Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East)
Dr. Lucine Taminian is a senior researcher in residence at The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq, based in Amman, Jordan.  Dr. Taminian earned her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Michigan and has taught there as well as at the American University of Beirut, Pace University, Sarah Lawrence College and Yarmouk University.  She has conducted field research in Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen and authored numerous articles and edited three books based on that work.  Dr. Taminian currently serves as a member of the editorial board of al-Mastoor, a Jordanian monthly magazine dedicated to issues of poverty.  She has consulted widely on women’s issues, particularly as they relate to the development process.  Since 2006 she has been senior consultant to the Jordanian National Council for Family Affairs working on the Strategic Plan for Family Protection against Violence in Jordan.