10/11/2026
Centering Islam: Networks, Best Practices, and Peer Support in a Critical Moment
Dr. Kayla Wheeler | Xavier University
An initiative designed to support Islamic/Muslim studies program and center directors who often serve as isolated representatives of their field while carrying heavy administrative, mentoring, and public-facing responsibilities in an increasingly hostile climate marked by Islamophobia, anti-Muslim racism, anti-DEI policies, and pressures on the humanities. Bringing together a diverse cohort of sixteen scholars from a range of institutions, the project will combine an in-person retreat with four virtual meetings to foster community, reduce burnout, center self-care, and cultivate justice-oriented pedagogy, inclusive mentoring, and sustainable program leadership. Guided by six framing questions on community, positionality, care, pedagogy, curriculum, and institutional support, participants will reflect on how to thrive as teacher-scholars and directors while navigating structural inequities and crisis conditions. The project will also generate broader impact through published participant reflections, a national listserv for Islamic/Muslim studies directors, and longer-term plans for a resource guide and annual convenings, thereby creating lasting networks and practical support for a field whose faculty are too often left to work in isolation.
