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It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve graduated from Ithaca College and Asma is still one of the most profound teachers I’ve ever had. From behind a desk, I learned to read history and politics as a personal encounter as much as a cultural and historical one. To this day, I still reference notes from…

Asma’s influence on my life has been profound to the point where hers is one of the voices of reason and conscience that I hear in my head when I’m making decisions. While more than twenty years have gone by since I sat in a classroom as her student, I still remember key moments vividly.…

Few people I have ever met have been as influential as Asma Barlas. No professor opened my brain the way Dr. Barlas did, but also few people have ever had that impact on me. No class or professor changed the way I thought about my own identity as a white man in the United States…

I had two classes with Professor Barlas. In both these classes—Understanding Islam, and Race & Colonialism—she pushed me to achieve deep levels of critical thinking which greatly elevated my writing skills. The papers I wrote in her class represent some of the heights of my academic achievements while at Ithaca college. Professor Barlas was the…

Dear Asma, Congratulations on your well-earned retirement! When Ulises contacted me earlier this year to let me know you be leaving Ithaca College, I was momentarily surprised. Given your impact on me and countless other students before and since, I had cemented in my mind that you’d always be at IC, coaxing the best out…

My time at Ithaca, and particularly my time spent within the politics department, has shaped the type of person I have become immensely. Asma has been a large part of that and she is someone who spent the energy, the time, and the care to help me find my voice and move me into the…

Dear Asma, I feel so honored and privileged to write this letter. You have been there for me through moments big and small and have played such a significant role in my life. What started off as an intellectual mentorship turned into a deep and meaningful friendship that I truly cherish. I feel this is…

Gnostics and lovers speak of the death of the self, and I suppose transformative learning can feel like that, too. It is as much about burning bridges as it is about building them. In that sense, there are no survivors in Asma’s classroom. I see that now, as I stand in front of my own…