Ingrid Mattson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dr. Ingrid Mattson Ph.D. is a Canadian Muslim convert professor and activist and the current president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

She was born in 1963 and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, and studied philosophy and fine arts at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. Raised as a Catholic, she ultimately abandoned religion "for good" during her teenage years,^[1]; in her senior year of college, she went to Paris and befriended several Muslim Senegalese, and in a year converted to Islam and began to wear the hijab. She had initially studied art, but later came to accept non-visual representation of individuals^[2].

In 1987 she travelled to Pakistan where she worked with Afghan refugees for a year. There, she met and married a fellow volunteer Aamer Atek, an Egyptian engineer^[3]. They have two children.

She earned her Ph.D. in Islamic studies from the University of Chicago in 1999. She went on to be very active in educating Canadian Muslims to become active participants in Canadian society at large. She is now Director of Islamic Chaplaincy and Professor at the Macdonald Center for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, the first Islamic chaplaincy program in the United States.

In 2001 she was elected Vice-President of ISNA and in 2006 she was elected the first female President of the organization. She has guest lectured at such institutions as the US Naval Academy.^[4] Dr. Mattson is the first convert to lead the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

[edit] References

1. ^ Ingrid Mattson: Raised Catholic, this Muslim professor is bringing the moderate viewpoint to the world.- MSNBC
2. ^ How did Dr Ingrid Mattson became Muslim http://swaramuslim.net/islam/more.php?id=5416_0_4_0_M
3. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/24/MNGP9MJ4KK1.DTL&type=printable
4. ^ Dr. Ingrid Mattson Elected First Female President of ISNA - The American Muslim

[edit] External links

• Home page of Ingrid Mattson
• Ingrid Mattson Lectures
• Article: Finding the Prophet
• Article about Ingrid Mattson in the "Who's Next 2007" special section of the January 1, 2007 issue of Newsweek
• Ingrid Mattson speaks at Pennsylvania State University
• "A New Voice for Islam." Speaking of Faith

This biography of a Canadian academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article about a theologian is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e