COLLEGE PARK, MD (May, 2017) – Nina Daoud, a doctoral student in the UMD College of Education’s Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, has been awarded the Ford Foundation 2017 Dissertation Fellowship.
As a winner of the fellowship, Daoud, who is in the Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Policy program, will be receiving a one-year stipend of $25,000, expenses for at least one Conference of Ford Fellows and access to Ford Fellow Regional Liaisons, a network of former Ford Fellows who have volunteered to provide mentoring and support to current fellows.
Each year, the foundation awards approximately 36 dissertation fellowships nationwide to individuals who “have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education for all students.”
Daoud’s dissertation is a qualitative study examining the college experiences of black Muslim women at the intersections of their racial, religious and gender identities, with attention to how these women navigate their multiple identities, centering on today’s sociopolitical context and how increased levels of anti-black racism and Islamophobia shapes their decisions to perform their various identities.
Data for her research was collected on three East Coast campuses over several months, which spanned from just before the 2016 presidential election, through and after Pres. Donald Trump’s inauguration. The time period of her research on Muslim women’s experiences included the passage of Executive Order 13769, commonly referred to as the Muslim ban, prohibiting travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.
“[The] findings illuminate issues of power and privilege in different spaces, including the Muslim community, the black community, college campuses, and the U.S., thereby disrupting narratives of universality among those who identify as black or Muslim, within institutions of higher education, as well as the U.S. at large,” she said. “Additionally, this study offers a deeper understanding of the college experience of this population, thereby providing educators with information necessary to better support students from diverse racial and religious backgrounds.”
In addition to the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Daoud is also receiving support for her dissertation from the University of Maryland’s Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity (CRGE) Qualitative Research Interest Group Dissertation Seed Grant ($2,500), University of Maryland’s College of Education Support Program for Advancing Research and Collaboration (SPARC) Grant ($1,000), College Student Educators International (ACPA) Commission on Admissions, Orientation, and First-Year Experience and the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Research Grant ($500), and the Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education (NASPA) Center for Scholarship, Research, and Professional Development for Women Ruth Strang Research Award ($500, award received for manuscript based on pilot study of dissertation.)
-end-
For more information on the College of Education, visit: www.education.umd.edu
or contact
Audrey Hill, Associate Director of Communications, at: audreyh@umd.edu
