Speaker’s Bio

James (Jimmy) E. Jones is a tenured Associate Professor and chair of World Religions with a concurrent appointment in African Studies at Manhattanville College (Purchase, NY), where he is founding Coordinator of the Center for Middle East Understanding. He has served as the Academic Director of the Summer Arabic/Quran Immersion Program for Americans at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University for the past 7 years. Professor Jones’ writing, research and lecture activities are focused on Muslim American identity development and conflict resolution. Dr. Jones, a Visiting Professor at Cordoba University’s Graduate School of Islamic and Social Science (Ashburn, VA), has lectured at, taught in or consulted to institutions in Bahrain, Bosnia, Bermuda, Egypt, India, Jerusalem, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Trinidad-Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States. His latest publication is a chapter in the recently released book (2009) Peace-Building by, Between, and Beyond Muslims and Evangelical Christians, edited by Dr. Mohammed Abu-Nimer and Dr. David Augsberger. The President of the Islamic Seminary Foundation, Dr Jones holds a B.S. from Hampton University, a Master’s from Yale Divinity School and a D.Min from Hartford Seminary. Born in Baltimore MD, Jimmy Jones embraced Islam in 1979. He lives in
New Haven, CT with his wife, where they are active leaders of Masjid Al-Islam’s community development project.