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About the Presenters
Nina M. Fernando
Nina M. Fernando is the Executive Director of the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign, a multifaith coalition working to counter anti-Muslim discrimination and violence in the U.S. She joined the organization in 2017. Fernando holds a Master’s in Interreligious and Cultural Studies from Claremont School of Theology and a BA in Social Change through Music and Religious Studies from the University of Redlands. Previously, she worked as a LankaCorps Fellow with The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka, focusing on interreligious conflict, and as a Faith-Rooted Organizer at Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice in Southern California.
Zeyneb Sayilgan, Ph.D.
Zeyneb Sayilgan, Ph.D., is the Muslim Scholar at ICJS, where her research centers around Islamic theology and spirituality, Christian-Muslim relations, and the intersection of religion and migration. Her personal experience of growing up in Germany as a child of Kurdish Muslim immigrants from Turkey informs her academic work and engagement in interreligious learning. Sayilgan is an affiliated faculty at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria and also a Fellow Emerita in Peace and Reconciliation at its Center for Anglican Communion Studies. She has a Ph.D. in Theological and Religious Studies from Georgetown University, a Master’s degree from Hartford Seminary in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, and a B.A/M.A. in Islamic Studies and Public Law from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.