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Ingrid Mattson

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Ingrid Mattson
Born
Ingrid Mattoon

August 24, 1963
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)professor, activist

Ingrid Mattson (born August 24, 1963) Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Ph.D. is a Muslim religious leader, a Canadian convert, activist, an expert in Christian-Muslim and interfaith relations, a professor of Islamic Studies at Huron University College at Western, London, Ontario, Canada, where she teaches Islamic law and Islamic history. Mattson is a former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and was described as “the most noticed figure among American Muslim women” in a 2010 New York Times article.

Biography

Dr. Ingrid Mattson is the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. Formerly, she was professor of Islamic Studies, founder of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program and director of the MacDonald Center for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT. She earned her Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago in 1999. She is the author of The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life, as well as numerous articles exploring the relationship between Islamic law and society, gender and leadership issues in contemporary Muslim communities. From 2006-2010 Dr. Mattson served as President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA); she previously served two terms as Vice-President. Dr. Mattson was born in Canada, where she studied Philosophy at the University of Waterloo, Ontario (B.A. ‘87). From 1987-1988 she lived in Pakistan where she developed and implemented a midwife-training program for Afghan refugee women. Dr. Mattson is frequently consulted by media, government and civic organizations and has served as an expert witness.

Early life and Background

Ingrid Mattson, the sixth of seven children, was born in 1963 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, to good and middle class Roman Catholic parents. She attended a Catholic girls high school and took piano lessons at the convent. She stopped attending Mass as a teenager, after inquiring about Catholicism and spirituality to which she was given unsatisfactory answers. Mattson was a self-described "atheist or agnostic, or maybe [someone who was] just simply indifferent [toward religion]."

Conversion Story to Islam

Education

  • University of Chicago, Ph.D., Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1999.
  • University of Waterloo, B.A. (joint honors), Philosophy & Fine Arts, 1987.

Career

Huron University College

Dr. Mattson has been recently appointed as Chair of Islamic Studies at Huron University College’s Faculty of Theology, where she will start her appointment on July, 2012. Dr. Stephen McClatchie, Principal of Huron University College, said:"We are honored that, with her pick of many positions around the world, Dr. Mattson has decided to return to Canada and accept our appointment to the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies."

Hartford Seminary

Formally She was professor at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT from 1998-2012. Dr. Mattson tough so many graduate level courses including:

  • Introduction to Islamic Law.
  • Contemporary Islamic Ethics.
  • Islamic Ritual and Family Law.
  • The Life of the Prophet Muhammad.
  • Early Islamic History.
  • The Qur’an and its Place in Muslim Society.
  • Tafsir.
  • Current State of Hadith Studies.
  • Readings in Hadith.
  • Readings in Arabic Texts.
  • Readings in Islamic Theology.
  • The Spirituality of Muslim Women.
  • Building Abrahamic Partnerships (co-taught).

Duncan Black MacDonald Center

Formally, Dr. Mattson was the director of the MacDonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations and professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.

Islamic Chaplaincy

Dr. Mattson founded the first Muslim Chaplaincy program in America- the Islamic Chaplaincy Program at Hartford Seminary, in Hartford, Connecticut to fill a gap in the American Muslim community where Muslim chaplains are needed to work alongside Christian and Jewish chaplains in hospitals, universities, prisons, and the military

Publications

Dr. Mattson has authored many articles, academic papers, book reviews, as well as a book, The Story of the Quran: its history and place in Muslim life, that became a widely-used textbook on Islamic sacred scripture. Her academic writings include topics on Islamic ethics and law, religious leadership, the Quran, poverty, slavery, charity and adoption. She lectures widely and nationally to academic and general audiences, and is frequently consulted by media, government, and civic organizations.

Books

Selected Articles

Selected Radio Interviews

Leadership

ISNA

Dr. Ingrid Mattson is the first female and first convert to lead the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). In 2001, she was elected vice president of ISNA and in 2006 she was elected president.

White House

John O. Brennan, the Director of the CIA, when he was Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and Assistant to President Obama thanked Dr. Mattson for her leadership at public meeting at New York University. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HndpbV3Zj08 Further, Mattson was a prayer leader in President Obama's first Inaugural National Prayer Service at Washington's National Cathedral on 2008.. Other notable participants included Bishop Charles E. Blake, (Church of God In Christ) and Rabbi Tzvi Weinreb (Orthodox Union): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NvZW4RUMA8

Interfaith Activities

Building relationships with Jewish organizations, Ingrid Mattson invited Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism to speak at the 2006 ISNA annual convention and she spoke in 2007 at their biennial conference in San Diego.

Here are sample of Mattson’s Interfaith activates:

  • Series of three lectures with Rabbi Burt Visotzky and Dr. Serene Jones on “Tragedy,” “Mourning,” and “Healing” delivered at St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, 2011
  • Presentation at El Ser Creativo in Malaqa, Spain, 2012
  • “Embracing Change: Communicating Faith in Today’s World,” at the Religion Communication Congress 2010
  • Presenter at “La Cuidad de las Ideas,” Pueblo, Mexico, 2008
  • “The Development of the Field of Islamic Chaplaincy,” address to the annual meeting of the American Theological Library Association, 2007
  • Panels discussing “The Procreation Choice” and “Dignity” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, (2007)
  • Workshop on “Islam and America,” SSRC journalists institute, NYC, 2004
  • “Death and Dying in the Islamic Tradition” at an interfaith symposium sponsored by Congregation Emanu-El in New York City, 2001

Public Service, Boards and Related Experience

  • Member, Faith-based Advisory Council, U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2012.
  • Senior Fellow, Aal Al Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan (appointed, 2010; Fellow since 2005).
  • Interfaith Taskforce of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, 2009-2010.
  • President, Islamic Society of North America (2006-2010).
  • Vice-President, Islamic Society of North America (2001-2006).
  • Council of Global Leaders of the C-100 of the World Economic Forum (2008).
  • Leadership Group, U.S.-Muslim Engagement (USME) Project (2007-2008).
  • Board of Directors, Nawawi Foundation, Chicago, IL (2000-present).
  • Advisor to PBS film project, Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (2001-2002).
  • Advisor to the Afghan delegation at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, thirty-ninth session, New York, (March 15—April 4, 1995).
  • Director of Projects for Afghan Refugee Women (CIDA grant), Peshawar, Pakistan, 1987-1988.
  • Gives frequent public lectures on Islam at religious and educational institutions; often consulted as expert in the field by research groups, print, radio and television media.

Selected Academic Awards and Recognition

  • Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” 2007
  • Newsweek Magazine’s “People to Watch” in 2007
  • El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Award, presented by the Washington Academic Leadership Institute, the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association and the Muslim Social Network, January 19, 2009.
  • Wisam al-Istiqlal (Medal of Independence) of the First Order for contributions to the field of Islamic Studies, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 2010
  • Jordan’s Royal Institute for Strategic Studies “500 Most Influential Muslims,” 2009, 2010, 2011.
  • Muslim American Contribution Award presented by the Stanford University Muslim Student Awareness Network, 2011
  • Doctor of Law, honoris causa, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, 2012
  • Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Chicago Theological Seminary, 2012
  • Certificate of Appreciation presented by Muslim Sisters United of the Islamic Center of Greater Hartford, 2012

Social Media

Website

Youtube Links

External links

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