{"id":323,"date":"2015-03-06T23:20:54","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T23:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/?page_id=323"},"modified":"2025-05-12T17:21:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T17:21:30","slug":"meet-our-chaplain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/objective\/meet-our-chaplain\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Our Chaplain and Advisor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sidra Mahmood<\/span><\/h2>\n

Muslim Chaplain and MSU Advisor<\/strong><\/p>\n

sm45\u200b@williams\u200b.edu<\/p>\n

\"\"Sidra Mahmood, or \u201cUst\u0101dha Sidra,\u201d is the Muslim Chaplain at Williams and the MSU’s advisor. She grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. Sidra chose to adorn the hijab and practice Islam more consciously in college as an international student at Mount Holyoke College, where chaplains from various religious backgrounds supported her through her journey of faith and identity, heartbreak, and homesickness. However, the isolation of life as a young professional led her to a deep soul-searching to study at Qalam Seminary. She graduated with an ij\u0101za or certification as a scholar, \u0101lima, to teach Islam with a documented pedagogical chain of teachers to Prophet Muhammad \ufdfa.<\/p>\n

Ust\u0101dha Sidra completed all four units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and is pursuing a Master of Arts in Chaplaincy at Hartford International University. Sidra was a healthcare chaplain in Phoenix, Arizona, before moving to Williamstown in 2023 with her spouse, two cats, and baby, Maalik. She loves camping and hiking and is fascinated with the relationship between spirituality and a socially just world. Email her or click here<\/a> to meet her for coffee or a walk, or come to her office for some tea! She enjoys one-on-one conversations and would love to know your story (of life)!<\/p>\n

Firas Shennib<\/span><\/h2>\n

MinCo Advisor<\/strong><\/p>\n

fas1@williams<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Firas Shennib ’15 is Assistant Director for Intergroup Relations and Inclusive Programming at the Davis Center and is the MSU’s Davis Center or MinCo advisor. While at the College, Firas was an active member of the MSU and taught for seven years at Peace Academy, a private, college-preparatory Islamic school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after graduating from Williams in 2015. Firas felt the isolation as a Muslim student when he first arrived at Williams, however, spaces such as the MSU and the Multicultural Center \u2014 which is now known as the Davis Center \u2014 enabled Firas to adjust to college life. Firas hopes to use what he learned while at the College to support MSU students in coordination with the Muslim Chaplain through their time here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sidra Mahmood Muslim Chaplain and MSU Advisor sm45\u200b@williams\u200b.edu Sidra Mahmood, or \u201cUst\u0101dha Sidra,\u201d is the Muslim Chaplain at Williams and the MSU’s advisor. She grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. Sidra chose to adorn the hijab and practice Islam more consciously in college as an international student at Mount Holyoke College, where chaplains from various religious Read more about Meet Our Chaplain and Advisor<\/span>[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"parent":4,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullwidth.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-323","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1765,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/323\/revisions\/1765"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/msu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}