Community Outreach Coordinator, CMENAS and CSEAS
Weiser Hall, 500 Church Street, Suite 500, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
About
Rima is a Palestinian who grew up in the Middle East. Primarily responsible for K-16 initiatives in global education at CSEAS and CMENAS, she organizes and runs the year-long MENA-SEA Teacher Program, educator workshops, initiatives with community and four-year colleges, international Global Exploration for Educators Organization (GEEO) trips, and collaborations with the general public and its institutions. She holds two M.A. in English and Arabic literatures, and she completed the World Languages Teacher Preparation Program at U-M's School of Education. For twenty years Rima taught diverse learners at universities, community colleges, and language centers in the U.S. and in Jordan. For twelve of those years Rima taught in her alma mater's Department of Middle East Studies' Arabic-language program, Department of American Culture's Arab and Muslim American Studies, and the Center for Global & Intercultural Study, for which she has led Global Intercultural Experiences for Undergraduates (GIEUs) to Palestine and Israel. Certified by Michigan's Department of Education to teach English Language Arts and Arabic language and culture to Grade 6-12 classrooms, she was hired as the first teacher to launch and teach the Grade 6-12 Arabic curricula in the Ann Arbor Public Schools.
Field(s) of Study: Literature, immigration, pedagogy at U.S. institutions of higher learning, secondary-school language instruction, inter-group relations, cultural humility and competencies.