Visiting Scholars
2018
Faisal Mustafa
Spotlight:
Faisal is such an enthusiastic person. He’s excited about everything in Oberlin. He wants to learn and discover new things at every turn in life.” -- Louise Edwards, Shansi Returned Fellow This year Shansi House is home to Faisal Mustafa, a visiting scholar hailing from Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Faisal and is an integral part of the Banda Aceh program for years, having supported numerous fellows, and now has a fellowship here at Oberlin himself. With an undergraduate degree in Education from Syiah Kuala University, and a Masters in Linguistics from University of Manchester, Faisal is most interested in the intersection of those two studies: how language is taught. Here in Oberlin, he plans to delve into language testing. In both his mother language, Acehnese, his native Indonesian, and English, he wants to collect data and run tests on how language changes, and methods around teaching languages. This plan in language testing brings him to a discipline he didn’t quite expect, and now he’s working closely with the Statistics department here in Oberlin.
He’s excited to learn more about different systems of learning one might find in an Oberlin classroom, and is looking forward to bringing them back to Indonesia with him. One of the areas of campus he’s enamored with is the Writing Center, and back home he wants to implement a system of students helping other students writing. Similarly, he’s interested in Oberlin’s ExCo program, and, though a long term process, wants to bring a system like that to Syiah Kuala University, where he’s the Vice Director of the Language Center. Additionally, he wants to experience more of the discussion-style method of teaching one finds in many Oberlin classrooms, and hopes to bring this to his own classrooms.
In addition to learning Statistics here in Oberlin, he wants to learn more about American culture, which previously he had mostly learned about through movies and T.V. shows. He wants to learn how to swim in the gym, which is something he’s never had access to before. He likes cooking in the Shansi House, and has been finding new and innovative ways to keep halal in Oberlin. Utilizing his interdisciplinary learning in Oberlin and Manchester, and implementing it back in Syiah Kuala University, one day he wants to become a world-class professor in linguistics, academic writing, and language testing.
Vrushaa Subramanian
Spotlight:
We had the honor of welcoming Visiting Scholar Vrushaa Subramanian to Oberlin College. Vrushaa is an Assistant Professor in the English Department from Lady Doak College, a women’s college in Tamil Nadu. Vrushaa is using her semester here in Oberlin to observe undergraduate teaching and work on her dissertation research on American women’s breast cancer narratives in literature. Vrushaa’s research interests were inspired by The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. Upon reading the text, she was struck by author Siddhartha Mukherjee’s ability to explain cancer in a way that both medical professionals and laypersons alike could understand. Additionally while working on her MPhil, she found Audre Lorde’s Cancer Journals one of her greatest resources. As a Ph.D. candidate, decided to center her analysis on American non-fiction narratives, hence her research at Oberlin. Being a book-lover at heart, Vrushaa has fallen in love with the Oberlin College Library, finding more sources for her dissertation than she can carry back home with her. The ease with which she can order books online, and find online resources here in America is also changing the path of her learning. But, here at Oberlin College itself, she has begun taking an interdisciplinary approach to her work. She is spending time in the Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies department, as well as the Sociology department, where she can delve into interdisciplinary subjects like Feminist Research Methods and Trauma Studies. One vital resource that she’s found is Arthur W. Franks The Wounded Storyteller, and the position of telling stories in the healing process of trauma. Vrushaa has also been keen to learn about different teaching methods and is considering pedagogy for the courses she teaches at Lady Doak. In Lady Doak, often texts need to be read together in class, as different students have different reading levels. Upon her return, she hopes to introduce recommended or optional readings to guide motivated students who want to gain a deeper understanding of the course themes. She has ambitions to implement an Ex-Co system similar to Oberlin’s at Lady Doak College, as she’s currently taking the Queer Women on Screen Ex-Co. She believes that the peer-based learning fostered by the Ex-Co program is something that could really reshape processes of learning and collaboration at Lady Doak College. When you can’t find her in the library or Shansi house doing her research, you can find Vrushaa at Lorenzo’s Pizzeria or using an American Netflix account to catch up on the new season of Grey’s Anatomy.
Vrushaa says, “My four-month stay in Oberlin has been greatly enriching. It has helped me find what I want to do in my research, and has provided me the clarity that always eluded me. This sabbatical has truly rejuvenated my interest in research, and my passion for learning. The Shansi House and Oberlin have become very close to my heart, and I will always cherish the bonds I have made with the people here.”
Zaujatul Amna
Zaujatul Amna is a lecturer in the Psychology Department of Syiah Kuala’s Faculty of Medicine. She conducts research on the psychological effects of disaster, and has done clinical training and advanced study in Taiwan. Last year, she also participated in a program on pan-Asia disaster risk reduction in the Philippines. In Oberlin, she studied the array of pedagogical approaches used by Oberlin professors to inform her own teaching while also taking many, many courses in psychology. Furthermore, Amna made a point to attend many of the special lectures held at Oberlin, including every single lecture held by the psychology department! When not in Shansi House, Amna was to be found in Mudd Library, working hard on her research and PhD preparation. She attended a conference held by the Western Psychological Association (WPA) in Portland in addition to trips to New York and Boston with our Visiting Scholar from China, Hengyu Zhang.
Fatima Sarhan
Fatima Sarhan is this year's Fulbright Arabic Teaching Assistant at Oberlin College. She is from both Algeria and Egypt. Fatima earned her bachelor's degree in English literature and translation at Ain Shams University in Egypt. She then obtained her MA in TEFL and applied linguistics at Oran university in 2017 in Algeria, where she currently works as an English lecturer.
Fatima thoroughly enjoyed teaching Arabic here and says she was blessed to have students who were truly passionate about Arabic and its culture. She says her time in Oberlin was "the best and most enriching experience I've ever had." She loves cooking and baking, and frequently made meals and shared food with both Shansi House residents and her students. She also took up running due to the beautiful nature in Oberlin. After returning to Algeria, she hopes to apply for PhD programs in Comparative Literature, a field she became deeply interested in during her time here.
Asrul Sidiq
Asrul Sidiq is a lecturer in the Syiah Kuala Faculty of Engineering and a program officer and researcher in the International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies (ICAIOS). He works on regional and rural development planning, urban planning, community development, and disaster management. During his time in Oberlin, Asrul took courses in politics and environmental studies. He also travelled extensively in the US, including a visit to his brother at the University of Hawaii, Manoa! In April 2018, he was also able to attend the National Planning Conference held by American Planning Association in New Orleans. When not studying or preparing for his PhD, he made full use of the athletics facilities on campus and joined the Oberlin Badminton team.
Hengyu Zhang
Hengyu Zhang is a Teacher of Chinese for the East Asian Studies Program. Hengyu hails from Chuzhou in Anhui Province, a city with a rich culture and a long history in the eastern part of China. She felt right at home in Oberlin because it is quiet and filled with trees and birds; Tappan Square reminds her of the parks in Chuzhou.
She is currently in the MA graduate program for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language at Beijing Normal University, and was a teaching assistant at the university. Last summer Hengyu was an instructor in the Princeton in Asia summer school in Beijing. According to Hengyu, “I love to teach Chinese, and my Oberlin students are very diligent.”
One of the many things she enjoyed so far in Oberlin was her visit to The Feve. She had heard of its popularity among students and faculty and found the atmosphere very lively and the food delicious. Living in Shansi House with its large kitchen at her disposal, she’s thinking of learning how to cook Chinese food and hopes to invite her students and colleagues over for a meal one day soon.