Six Notre Dame students are spending the summer in Amman, Jordan, studying Arabic language and culture thanks to an endowment established by Susan Scribner Mirza, ’79 in memory of her husband Muzzafar Mirza, a native of Pakistan.
Mrs. Mirza established the “Sue Scribner and Muzzi Mirza Endowment for Excellence in Student Exchange” in 2010 as part of Contending Modernities, a cross-cultural research and education initiative based at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Mrs. Mirza is a member of the Kroc Institute’s Advisory Council.
The endowment is designed “to advance Notre Dame’s programs of undergraduate education and training in the languages and cultures of Muslim-majority societies.” Proceeds from the endowment were used to provide summer grants of up to $5,000 for highly qualified students. The grants are administered through Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Languages & Cultures’ Summer Language Abroad Grant Program.
The six students being sponsored in whole or in part by the Mirza Endowment, along with their majors and minors, are:
William Owen Cox (Arabic)
Nancy Joyce (Arabic and Economics, minor in Peace Studies)
Matthew Kent (Political Science and Arabic)
Angela Lopez (Arabic and Art)
Joseph Massad (Political Science and Arabic)
Ian Montijo (Arabic and Political Science)
More information about these students, including their plans for summer learning, is available here.