The Muslim Student Union at Stanford annually bestows the Muslim American Community Award upon a Muslim who has made substantial contributions to knowledge and society. Award recipients are selected based on the magnitude of the impact of their contributions.
PAST RECIPIENTS
2020 Awardee
Najah Bazzy
Najah Bazzy is a humanitarian and an interfaith leader who left a six-figure salary as a critical-care nurse to build Zaman International. The Metro-Detroit based non-profit empowers marginalized women and children to break the cycle of extreme poverty. In 2019, she was recognized as a Top Ten CNN Hero highlighting Zaman’s growth from a grassroots team of volunteers to a world-class organization with a global reach that has helped more than 1.8 million people in 20 countries since 2010.
2019 Awardee
SHARIF EL-MEKKI
Sharif El-Mekki is the principal of Mastery Charter School–Shoemaker Campus, a public charter school in Philadelphia that serves 750 students in grades 7-12. From 2013-2015, he was one of three principal ambassador fellows working on issues of education policy and practice with U.S. Department of Education. El-Mekki’s team at the Shoemaker Campus have been recognized by President Obama and Oprah Winfrey for having created a school that partners with communities to turn around failing schools and was recently recognized as one of the top ten middle and high schools in the state of Pennsylvania for accelerating the achievement levels of African-American students. El-Mekki has served on Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s Commission on African American Males and is a founding board member of the David P. Richardson Jr. Institute for Leadership and Civic Participation.
2018 AwardeE
Carolyn Walker Diallo
Carolyn Walker-Diallo is the first Muslim woman elected to serve as a Judge in the United States and is the first Muslim elected to serve as a Judge in the State of New York. In 2015, she was elected to the New York City Civil Court, representing the 7th Municipal Court District, which encompasses Brownsville, East New York, Cypress Hills and Bushwick. On December 10, 2015, she made history and caused an international firestorm when she took her ceremonial oath of office on the Holy Quran, Islam’s sacred text.
2016 Awardee
Dalia Mogahed
Dalia Mogahed is the Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, where she leads the organization's research programs on American Muslims. She is the coauthor of the book "Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think" and, in 2009, was appointed by President Barack Obama to be on the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
2015 AwardeE
Sherman Jackson
Dr. Sherman Jackson is the King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture and Professor of Religion and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Dr. Jackson recieved his PhD in Oriental Studies: Islamic Near East from the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, Wayne State University and the University of MichiganHe is the author of several books on Islam and Islam in America.
2014 Awardee
James yee
Mr. Yee is the American former Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, where he observed firsthand the physical and religious abuses against the detainees. Now, Mr. Yee speaks and writes openly of his ordeal, experiences in Guantanamo, and the challenges protecting national security and civil liberties. In 2008, Mr. Yee served as a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He has lectured at many academic institutions in the United States and abroad, including Harvard, Yale, and Oxford.
2013 AwardeE
Ayman Mohyeldin
Ayman Mohyeldin is an internationally acclaimed journalist. He began his career at NBC, where his unique insights into the Muslim world allowed him to cover increasingly relevant stories in the aftermath of 9/11. Mohyeldin's coverage of major news events include the Iraq War, the first multi-candidate presidential Egyptian elections in 2005, Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the 2005 Palestinian elections in the Gaza Strip. Mohyeldin was involved in the production of CNN specials "Islam: The Struggle Within" and "Hajj: A Spiritual Journey.
2012 Awardee
Reza Aslan
Dr. Reza Aslan, an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions, is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Riverside and the founder of AslanMedia.com, an online journal for news and entertainment about the Middle East and the world. He is the author of the international bestseller, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam.
2011 AwardeE
Ingrid Mattson
Dr. Ingrid Mattson is the former President of the Islamic Society of North America. She is also a Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of Islamic Chaplaincy at the Macdonald Center for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT.
2010 Awardee
Salam Al-Marayati
Salam Al-Marayati is the President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). He has written extensively on Islam, human rights, democracy, Middle East politics, the Balkan Crisis, and the Transcaucus conflict. Salam also works as an advisor to several political, civic and academic institutions seeking to understand the role of Islam and Muslims in America and throughout the world.
2009 AWARDEE
Eboo Patel
Eboo Patel is the recipient of the 2009 Award. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core. He was also recently appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
2008 Awardee
Nawal Nour
Professor Nawal Nour is the winner of the 2008 Award. Dr. Nour was named a 2003 fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is an obstetrician and gynecologist and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
2007 Awardee
Ahmed Zewail
Professor Zewail was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering developments in the field of femtoscience.
Professor Zewail is also renowned for his public lectures and writings on science and technology, education and world affairs, and for his efforts to support those less fortunate.
After receiving the Nobel, Dr. Zewail devoted time to improving scientific research at home in Muslim countries. He spoke about the importance of raising the educational standards in the Muslim communities world wide back to the top. Later in January of 2010 he became along with two others the first US science envoys to the Muslim world.