Additional Information on Nihad Awad
● Awad has managed to become a highly sought-after spokesman and educator on Islam-related issues in the United States:
- Awad has been a guest speaker at numerous colleges and universities, including Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford.
- He participates regularly in the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, which welcomes foreign dignitaries, journalists, and academics who are visiting the President of the United States.
- A few days after 9/11, he was one of a select group American Muslim leaders invited by the White House to join President Bush in a press conference at the Islamic Center of Washington to condemn not only the terrorist attacks, but also the acts of anti-Muslim intolerance that allegedly had followed in some places.
- He has led negotiations with Fortune 500 companies and Hollywood film corporations on issues such as “religious discrimination in the workplace, racial and religious profiling, negative stereotypes about Muslims in major Hollywood films, and products that are offensive to Muslims.”
- He meets regularly with elected and appointed members of the U.S. government “to discuss policies affecting Muslims.” Likewise, he has testified before both houses of the U.S. Congress on such matters.
- He was a member of the United States Institute of Peace’s Advisory Committee on U.S.-Muslim Relations.
- He is currently the U.S. Representative at the Vatican-affiliated International Committee on Muslim-Christian (Catholic) Dialogue.
- He has conducted hundreds of seminars in the U.S. and around the world on “civil, political and media activism.”
- He is a regular speaker at major interfaith conferences all across the globe.
- In 2004, National Journal named him as one of its more than “100 Most Influential People in the U.S.” whose ideas “will help shape the debate over public policy issues for the next decade.”
- In 2009, Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talaal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding listed him in its publication, 500 Most Influential Muslims.
- In 2010, Arabian Business ranked him 39th in the Power 100, its annual listing of the most influential Arabs.
- In 2012, the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center listed him as one of the world’s 500 most influential Muslims.
- In 2012 and 2013, Arabian Business included him in its Power 500 list.
- He is frequently interviewed on national and international media outlets such as Al Jazeera, BBC World Service, C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, PBS, and Voice of America. He also has been featured in newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today.