Karima Alavi

Former Director, Curriculum Developer, and Author

Karima Diane Alavi is a curriculum specialist, educator and author. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in History, Middle East and East Asian Studies from Kent State University and Shiraz University in Iran. She went on to receive her Master’s Degree in History, Middle East and Asian Studies from Kent State. Karima also took one year of post-graduate studies in East Asian Art History at Kansas University. As a graduate student, she received one of ten Bicentennial scholarships to study language, history and art in Iran. Early in her career, she traveled and taught in the Middle East. She taught Islamic Studies for seven years at the renowned Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. She also directed the Dar al-Islam Summer Teacher’s Institute in Abiquiu, NM for many years. Karima continues to travel in educational endeavors, speaking at conferences and events both nationally and internationally. She has presented at NESA (Near East, South Asia Teachers’ Conference) in Cairo, Egypt and Bangkok, Thailand; numerous state, regional and national Social Studies Conferences; The Library of Congress; The Smithsonian Institution; Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies; Middle East Studies Association. She is the author of Ramadan: More Than Fasting (Journal of the Near East, South Asia Council of Overseas Schools, Spring, 1998), What Are American Children Learning About Islam? (The Muslim Magazine, Vol.1, No. 3, July, 1998), The Emergence of Renaissance: Cultural Interactions Between Europeans and Muslims (co-authored with Susan Douglass, Council on Islamic Education, 1999), Life in the House of Wisdom in “Al-Ma’mun, Caliph of Baghdad” (Calliope, Cobblestone Publications, 2000), At Risk of Prejudice: Teaching Tolerance About Muslim Americans (Social Education Magazine, National Council for the Social Studies, 2001), Turning to Our Faith in Response to the Events of September 11 (America Magazine, a Catholic Publication and ABC television, Albuquerque. October, 2001), The History of Islamic Science, Technology and Medicine, part of the four-volume reference text, “World Eras: The Rise of Islam” (Gale Publications, June, 2002), Rihla, The Islamic Concept of Travel for the Sake of Knowledge, lesson plan (PBS web-site, The Islam Project), Hijab, Islamic Dress for Men and Women, lesson plan (PBS web-site, The Islam Project), The Qur’an: Islam’s Holy Scripture (Calliope Books. December, 2003).