Arab Cultural Studies Program Council Members
Program Director
Michael Daher
Dr. Michael Daher, who serves as Director of the Arab Cultural Studies Program, has taught English and American literature at HFCC since 1981. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Wayne State University in English Language and Literature, with a specialty in American cultures. Daher taught from 1985 to 1987 as a Senior Fulbright Professor at Damascus University, has written and co-produced radio features on Arab and Arab-American culture for National Public Radio, and between 2005 and 2008 acted as project author and director for several National Endowment for the Humanities “Landmarks of American History and Culture” workshops designed to develop college curricula that explore the achievements of Henry Ford as an industrial innovator, and identify the limitations of Ford in recognizing the breadth and depth of cultural diversity.
Council Members
Nabeel Abraham
Instructor of Anthropology since 1985, specializing in Arab American studies, Dr. Abraham serves as Director of the Honors Program. He earned his doctorate in Middle Eastern anthropology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1979. Abraham has authored a number of studies on Arab Americans; he co-edited several books on the subject, the most recent being Arab Detroit: From Margin to Mainstream with Andrew Shryock.
Ali Al-Shemeri
Dr. Al-Shemeris earned his doctorate in Molecular Genetics and Cancer Biology at the University of Wales in the United Kingdom, and has done post-doctoral work at the University of Windsor in Canada. He has taught biology in Iraq, Swansea, Libya, and Canada, as well as the United States, and also has distinguished himself as poet. Al-Shemeri has authored a number of studies on environmental factors proven to be cancer-causing agents.
Hashim Al-Tawil
Chair of the Art History program at Henry Ford Community College, and lecturer at local and national universities, Dr. Al-Tawil teaches and researches the history, art, and culture of the Arab world, as well as the medieval and Islamic visual traditions. Al-Tawil holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Iowa and a FGA from the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Asian and Islamic Art Forum at the Detroit Institute of Arts and earned a senior Fulbright research award in 2007 to explore aspects of twelfth-century Islamic Arabic culture in Sicily.
Mary Assel
Dr. Assel holds a BS in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of New York State, an MA in Teaching English Methods from Wayne State University, and a Ph.D. from Wayne State in curriculum design. She contributed to the design and serves as the Director of the English Language Institute at HFCC. An, active member in various campus and community committees that embrace all areas in the teaching of English as a second language, Asselhas taught English a Second Language in Africa, the Middle East, and the United States for over thirty years.
Sam Bazzi
Mr. Bazzi holds a BS in Pure Mathematics from the University of Lebanon in Beirut, Lebanon, and an MA in Mathematics from Wayne State University.
Michael Garms
A full time instructor in the Business and Economics Division of HFCC, Mr. Garms earned a BSBA with a management major from Wayne State University and a MBA with Finance and Accounting majors from Michigan State University. He also is a licensed Certified Public Accountant, CPA, in the State of Michigan. Prior to coming to HFCC, Garms held a variety of positions in government and business, including a professional assignment with one of the major international CPA firms.
Daniel Kearney
Mr. Kearney has served as a full-time faculty member in the Criminal Justice Program at HFCC for ten years. In addition he is the faculty mentor for the student Criminal Justice Club. Kearney believes that it is absolutely essential that HFCC maintain a positive relationship with the surrounding community and stresses that philosophy in all of his interactions with students.
Imad Nouri
Mr. Nouri has served as a counselor at HFCC since 2000, providing personal, academic, career, and cross cultural counseling with a special focus on at-risk bilingual students. He began his professional life as a mental health therapist at ACCESS, working primarily with adolescents and young adults who suffered traumas. Although trained as a professional counselor, he has also studied film and worked on film sets and post production for his father, a film maker; Nouri designed and coordinated Arab Film festivals in 200 and 2002 at HFCC.
Talaat Pasha
Coordinator of the Arabic language program at Henry Ford Community College, Talaat Pasha hold a B.A. in English Language and Literature, as well as a B.A. in Islamic Studies from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; a M.A. in Linguistics from University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, and is a Ph.D. candidate in Arabic and Linguistics at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. His main interests include Arabic, linguistics, sociolinguistics, traditional Arabic linguistics, ideology and language, Islamism and post colonialism, and teaching Arabic as a foreign language; Pasha also serves as faculty mentor for the Muslim Student Association at HFCC.
William Secrest
Mr. Secrest has been teaching Religious Studies at HFCC since 1980. He has been active in interfaith dialogue all along and is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Michigan Round Table for Diversity and Inclusion, the Stillpoint Zen Buddhist Temple Board of Directors, and a Director of the HFCC Religious Studies Program. As an environmental activist, Secrest is also leader of the Campus Sustainability Task Force, the faculty advisor of the Student Environmental Association, and the vice-president of the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy; with his beautiful wife, Misty, he runs the Stray Dog Farm on the Western frontier of the metropolis.