Sajida Jalalzai was a Ph.D. candidate in the North American Religions subfield in Columbia University’s Department of Religion, focusing on Islam and Muslims in North America. Her dissertation focused on Muslim leadership education in North America, and is based on ethnographic research conducted at several Protestant-affiliated theological schools in the United States and Canada that offer various types of Muslim leadership training programs: Hartford Seminary (Hartford, CT), Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto (Toronto, ON), and Claremont-Lincoln University (Claremont, CA). She analyzed the formation of North American Islamic authority in intellectual and educational milieus characterized by a dominant Protestant Christian culture.

She looks forward to contributing to the Muslim presence in the Western academy, and to mentoring Muslim students who wish to pursue studies in the humanities and social sciences.