On Thursday, April 30th, faculty, staff, students and family members gathered in the Michigan League's Vandenberg Room to honor our 2026 graduates and awardees. The event was hosted by the Middle East Studies Department Chair, Gottfried Hagen, with faculty members joining to present department awards.
Ever year, through the presentation of awards, MES has the pleasure of recognizing promising students who study within the diverse areas hosted by the department. The awards honor student success in various ways including language, writing and overall academic performance. The language award recipients for 2026 were:
The George G. Cameron Award in Near Eastern Studies honors George G. Cameron, the "founding father" of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, predecessor of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies. This award recognizes a graduating senior in the Middle East Studies department who has an academic record of excellence within the program. Professor Terry G. Wilfong presented the award to Ali Haidar. Excelling in interdisciplinary scholarship while balancing rigorous studies in both Biology, Health and Society and Middle East Studies, Ali has distinguished himself through his intellectual engagement, leadership, and service. Known to faculty for his thoughtful contributions in the classroom and his commitment to exploring the histories, religions, and cultures of the Middle East, Ali embodies the curiosity and dedication that define the spirit of the Cameron Award, and the department could not have selected a more deserving recipient for this award.
Shukran Kamal was born in Mansourah, grew up trilingual in Arabic, Turkish, and English, and studied German and French in school. Kamal went on to earn a Bachelor's degree from Cairo University, a Master's Degree from North Carolina State University Raleigh, and a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, while raising three children with her husband, Amin Kamal. Shukran's career in translation begain in the 1970s and eventually led her to the Office of Language Services, part of the U.S. Department of State. While teaching at Georgetown University, Shukran Kamal met Julia Segall-Derfler, an Ann Arbor native with incredible academic promise shown early on by winning the Huron High School's senior class award in 2001 for "Outstanding Contributions to Understanding and Sharing Diversity." Her acquaintance with Shukran Kamal eventually led to an internship at the U.S. Department of State and later a position as an Arabic Language Specialist. Julia was described as a "natural-born diplomatic translator" and as developing an "ever-growing mastery not only of Arabic language but of the art of translation."
The department honors these two people and the mentorship bond they formed with the Shukran Kamal and Julia Segall-Derfler Memorial Award, awarded to a student who has shown great diligence in Arabic or Hebrew language with an interest in using their language skills in a career focused on translation. The 2026 recipient was Tyson Zimpleman, a junior studying International Studies and Economics. Professor Said Hannouchi, who presented the award to Tyson, describes him an a self-driven and highly dedicated student who has achieved a high level of proficiency in Arabic and is continuously seeking oppurtunities to enhance his skills in the language.
The Raji Rammuny Award for Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language is an award that recognizes up to two graduate students who have shown excellence in the field of teaching Arabic as a foreign language. Recipients are students who have preformed above and beyond the norm in both their academic and professional pursuits. Professor Mohammad Alhawary presented this year's Rammuny award to graduating M.A. student and incoming PhD student, Yazeed Al-Awaysheh.
The department has had a longstanding and important relationship with the Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies. MCECS promotes the teaching of Christian origins within its early Jewish context at the University of Michigan. Thanks to the members of the board of directors, MCECS has created an award to recognize especially talented undergraduate students at the University in the field of early Christianity.
Dr. Katherine Davis presented the Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies Harrold J. Ellens Undergraduate Study Award to Annika Dekraker, a junior majoring in Spanish and Biology, Health, & Society, minoring in Religion. Dr. Davis presented the award on behalf of Dr. Deborah Forger, who nominated Annika for this award. Dr. Forger was especially impressed by Annika's work in her upper-level course, The Bible as a Material Object, where she demonstrated remarkable creativity and scholarly rigor. Annika distinguished herself through exceptional academic performance, intellectual curiosity, and thoughtful engagement. Her commitment to and excellence in the study of Christianity is reflected in her performance on exams, which ranked her work in the top one percent of the class and her discussion posts, which were described as carefully crafted, cogent, and clear, evidencing the style of a thinker, presenter, and writer well beyond her years.
The ceremony continued by focusing on graduates within the class of 2026. Present at the festivities were students from our undergraduate, MA, and Phd programs. Our graduates were:
Undergraduate Minor in Arabic Studies
Ji Hoon Choi
Nadia Ammar Houssein
Leila Hikmat Kassem
Ismail Khalid
Adriana Lucia Torero
Undergraduate Minor in Middle East Studies
Harout N Ashekian
Alyssa Marie Bashir
Ava Kokab Esmael
Nada O Elsabagh
Isabella Grace Mikhail
Rayan Kamal Sawan
Elijah Nathan Wiseman
Undergraduate Major in Middle East Studies
Christopher George Adam - Arabic History
Angy Galal El-Badry - Arabic Literature
Ali Hassan Haidar - Arabic Religion
Mohammed Nasser - Arabic Cultural Studies
Master of Arts in Arabic Studies
Yazeed Anas Faraj Al-Awaysheh - Teaching Arabic as a Forgein Language
Nour J Kazbour - Arabic for Professional Purposes
Louis James Joseph - Arabic for Professional Purposes
Adham Musa - Teaching Arabic as a Forgein Language
We also recognized two PhD students who have defended or will defend their dissertations this year:
- Shahla Farghadani Awḥadī’s ʿArafāt al-ʿĀshiqīn: Sacred Self-Fashioning and the Making of Persian Literary History
- Heidi Hilliker The Social Fabric of Textile Craft in Pharaonic Egypt: Production, Community, and Experience
The department elected to do a very special hooding ceremony to honor the PhD graduate in attendance, Heidi Hilliker. Dr. Katherine Davis, Heidi's dissertation committee member, spoke of her thesis, persistence, and resilience throughout her PhD journey. Heidi's other committe members, Dr. Janet Richards and Dr. Terry Wilfong, were also in attendance to honor Heidi's accomplishment.
The Department of Middle East Studies wishes to once again extend sincere congratulations to all of our awardees and graduates this year. Thank you all for being a part of this special day!
