UF has approved the establishment of a Center for Global Islamic Studies for graduate students.
UF’s Center for Global Islamic Studies is set to launch Sept. 18 with a Global Islam and the Quest for Public Space conference.
The event will be the center’s first program for Islamic studies in Florida, said Terje Ostebo, an assistant professor with UF’s Center for African Studies and the Department of Religion.
“You take the Southeast of the U.S., and there are virtually no similar centers,” he said. “In Florida, we are the first one. I think it will have a huge impact in the way it puts UF on the map.”
Ostebo and several other colleagues have been coordinating efforts to create new classes for the program, along with adding current classes as well.
“We base on what we have and hope that we can grow and become something larger with time,” Ostebo said.
“Our religion department doesn’t have a particular track or focus on Islam when it comes to grad studies.”
The center is working on adding a minor, master’s and Ph.D. program down the road, but for now, graduate students can obtain a graduate certificate in Islamic studies, Ostebo said.
The certificate will require 12 to 15 credits from students.
Jamie Wenzell, a 23-year-old UF religion senior, said she would consider the graduate certificate. Wenzell is taking one of the new courses created for the center called Global Islam.
“It goes above and beyond religion and more about Islam’s interaction in the world,” Wenzell said.
Ostebo said he wants the center to focus on a contemporary study of Islam.
“We want to emphasize Islam is much more than Saudi Arabia or the Middle East,” Ostebo said.
Brittney Abraham, a 22-year-old UF religion senior, said she has taken Ostebo’s Global Islam course.
“He’s already given me a new perspective of Islam,” Abraham said.
The two-day conference will be open to the public and will feature Georgetown University professor John Esposito.
The event will start at 5:30 p.m. in Pugh Hall’s Ocora Room.
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 9/2/2014 under the headline "Center for Global Islamic Studies scheduled to open Sept. 18"]
