When asked about her most significant experiences at the University of South Carolina, Asma Jaber doesn’t list her achievements or awards (and this is a very long list.) Instead, Asma eloquently speaks of the teaching and mentoring she has received from faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her college experience has been informed by “long, in-depth talks with some of the most brilliant and inspiring professors on campus.” She credits Professor Ann Kingsolver of the Department of Anthropology and Professor Ken Perkins of the Department of History with providing the impetus for her considerable intellectual growth.

If the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences have been an inspiration for Asma, helping her see connections across disciplines and discourses, she is responsible for transforming that inspiration into a stellar record of accomplishments. A senior anthropology major with a second major in international studies, Asma was named a winner of the prestigious Truman Scholar Award in 2007. Just last month, Asma was named a member of the USA Today All-USA Academic Team for her academic record and her advocacy work on behalf of victims of Middle East violence. Asma chaired the University’s SC-Fast-a-Thon project in October 2007. Donations from the project benefited "No More Victims," a non-profit organization dedicated to helping injured Iraqi children. In addition, Asma was recognized by the Department of Anthropology in 2007 as the winner of the Rising Senior Award for that major, and she is the recipient of the Carolinian Creed Student Award.

An active member of both the Muslim Students Association and Alpha Phi Omega, a service sorority, Asma has worked to raise awareness of the social, religious, and humanitarian issues of the Iraq war and to promote interfaith dialogue and understanding.  She has volunteered with Catholic Charities, contributing to the effort to provide services for low-income immigrants.

For Asma, scholarship and action inform each other. Whether she is researching the humanitarian crises in Iraq or Palestine, studying migrant communities in South Carolina, or exploring her own family’s history in Palestine for her senior thesis, Asma is preparing for a career that will involve social activism and advocacy. She hopes to work in an area where she can contribute to greater understanding between the United States and the Islamic world, and foster social, political, and educational reform in the Middle East. Her immediate plan after graduation is to work with the Oxford International Review, researching global issues and suggesting solutions to international problems, before beginning her graduate studies.

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