Champions of Change
Rami Nashashibi has served as the Executive Director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN, a non-profit community organization that fights for social justice, delivers a range of direct services, and cultivates the arts in urban communities) since its incorporation as a nonprofit in January 1997. He has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago and has been an adjunct professor at various colleges and universities across the Chicagoland area, where he has taught a range of Sociology, Anthropology, and other Social Science courses. He has worked with several leading scholars in the area of globalization, African American studies and urban sociology and has contributed chapters to edited volumes by Manning Marabel and Saskia Sassen. Rami has lectured across the United States, Europe and Middle East on a range of topics related to American Muslim identity, community activism and social justice issues and is a recipient of several prestigious community service and organizing awards. Rami and his work with IMAN have been featured in many national and international media outlets including the BBC, PBS, New York Times and Al Jazeera. In 2007 Islamica Magazine named Rami among the “10 Young Muslim Visionaries Shaping Islam in America” and in 2010 Chicago Public Radio in 2010 selected him as one of the city’s Top Ten Chicago Global Visionaries. Rami was also named one of the “500 Most Influential Muslims in the World” by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in concert with Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.