As the Arabic language courses grapple with department staffing issues, a UI religious-studies assistant professor has volunteered to fill the void.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences contacted Ahmed Souaiaia last spring when seeking an Arabic instructor to fill a long-term teaching position.
Souaiaia said the program has been suffering since he arrived at the UI four years ago and that the college went through a number of Arabic instructors and visiting professors over the course of his time at the university, offering year-to-year employment with little perception of permanence.
Souaiaia was the only individual with expertise in the field this semester, and he stepped into the position after the university's efforts to find another instructor proved to be unsuccessful.
"Either that happened, or we canceled the course," he said.
In addition to his duties as an instructor in religious studies, Souaiaia dedicates several hours each week to supervising Arabic language courses.
"It's not extremely difficult to [balance responsibilities]," he said. "It's just another area that takes away valuable time."
Following further failure to hire Arabic course instructors last year, the university advertised campuswide, encouraging anyone with experience or interest to apply.
Using knowledge he gained in his seven years teaching Arabic at the University of Washington-Seattle, Souaiaia oversees the work of two teaching assistants by providing course material and guidance.
Both instructors are native speakers of the language with previous experience teaching Arabic.
Khadija Bounou teaches an intermediate Arabic course this semester. She refers to Arabic as her first language and has taught it to non-native speakers in her homeland of Morocco and for three semesters at Iowa.
Bounou said she was likely hired because of her knowledge of the language and her experience teaching it to non-natives.
Souaiaia said he feels both he and the current instructors are qualified to fill their current roles but thinks hiring on a temporary basis is inefficient.
"When you hire on a short-term basis, people don't invest time or energy into building the program," he said. "Unfortunately, that means there is no proper structure to move from one level to the next."
Without the dedication to organize and structure the program, students suffer, he said.
"The problem is not a shortage of students; that number is increasing," Bounou said. "The normal step now would be to hire a permanent staff. We limit students by not having a faculty out there to work on this program. It's in the best interest of students and the university to have consistency in the faculty."
Souaiaia said the liberal-arts school is planning to hire a more permanent lecturer to teach Arabic at the UI. This position would require teaching only and would be renewable every three years.
"[University officials] now realize that if they emphasized that it is a permanent teaching position, people will be interested in the job," he said.
Ray Mentzer, a professor in the UI religious studies department, said competition to find a proficient Arabic instructor is fierce.
"We're working at it, and we're going to succeed; it's just going to take longer than planned," he said. "The department has all confidence we will find someone that that can be persuaded to stay."
Advertisements to hire for the post were recently released, and the university is now accepting applications.
Hindi languages were reported to have similar problems, but course instructor Arpita Kumar declined to comment.
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