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Board of Directors

Nahid Angha, PhD, s the founder of the Sufi Women Organization, the co-director of the International Association of Sufism and the executive editor of the journal Sufism: An Inquiry. Seyedeh Dr. Angha is the eldest child and first student of Moulana Shah Maghsoud Angha (a Sufi Master in an Uwaiysi tarighat). She was appointed to teach in her father's Uwaiysi tradition, becoming the first woman given this honor. Her dedication to peace has led her to serve as in various leadership roles in large-scale international interfaith organizations. Seyedeh Dr. Angha has given lectures and taught classes nationally as well as internationally. This includes speaking engagements at the United Nations, the the University of California, Berkeley and the Smithsonian Institute.She has written numerous books on the subjects of Sufism, philosophy, and spiritual traveling, such as: Negah (vision, non-English); Critical analysis on Existentialism Theory (non-English); Divan (non-English); Principles of Sufism (second edition); The Journey: Seyr va Soluk (second edition); The Nature of Miracles; The Traveler, Salek (under print); Magnetic Centers of the Human Body (under print); and has translated books on Sufi poetry, Sufi literature and doctrine such as Selections: Poems from Rumi, Khayam, Hafez and Shah Maghsoud; Manifestations of Thought; Destination: Eternity; A Meditation; Psalm of Gods; Chante; Nirvan; Deliverance: The Words of the Prophet; and Ecstasy. She has also published articles on the principles of Sufism, self-cognition, healing and numerous commentaries on Sufi doctrine and terminology.

Cyra Akila Choudhury, Esq. Executive Director, FAWR and Assistant Professor of Law at Florida International University College of Law. Ms. Choudhury is a graduate cum laude of Georgetown University Law Center and is admitted to practice law in the State of New York and the District of Columbia. She was an associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in their Corporate Finance practice and a volunteer attorney for the Legal Aid Society of New York in their immigration unit. Before venturing into law, she was a Research Associate for The National Academies in Washington, DC working on a variety of studies related to education and to international labor standards. She holds a Masters in Comparative Politics from Columbia University and a Bachelors, Phi Beta Kappa, in Political Science and a minor in Religion and Women's Studies from The College of Wooster. She is was the 2005-2007 Future Law Professor Fellow at Georgetown conducting research on gender, religion and the law. She is the author of Terrorists and Muslims: The Construction, Performance and Regulation of Muslim Identities in the Post 9/11 United States, Comprehending "Our" Violence: Reflections the Liberal Universalist Tradition, National Identity and the War on Iraq, and (Mis)Appropriated Liberty: Identity, Gender Justice and Muslim Personal Law Reform in India.

Carol Lee Flinders received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, specializing in medieval studies. She then spent fifteen years writing about natural foods, co-authoring the popular Laurel's Kitchen cookbooks and posting a weekly syndicated newspaper column. In 1990 she returned to her field of study and wrote Enduring Grace: Porrtraits of Seven Women Mystics. Subsequent books include At the Root of This Longing: Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst and, most recently, Rebalancing the World. Dr. Flinders has taught courses in mystical literature at UC, Berkeley, and at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She is currently a Fellow of the Spirituality and Health Institute, Santa Clara University. Carol's latest book is called Enduring Lives: Living Portraits of Women and Faith In Action, and it profiles four contemporary women that she believes  live and work in the "spiritual mother-line" of women like Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Catherine of Genoa. It will be published by Putnam/Tarcher in May, 2006. Carol lives in Northern California at the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation with her husband, Tim, with whom she co-authored The Making of a Teacher.  They have a son, Ramesh, who is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles. Carol gives workshops and lectures in the United States and Canada. For more information see her website, www.tworock.org.  

Benjamin N. Hamlin, MPH., Associate Executive Director, FAWR. Mr. Hamlin is a Senior Research Analyst for the Health Survey, Program and Public Policy Research division at NORC.  He also currently serves as the Associate Executive Director for the Foundation for the Advancement of Women in Religion (FAWR).  He has several years of experience in project management and administration in a non-profit setting.  He served on the Board of the U.S. Bangladesh Advisory Council (USBAC), an organization that promotes governmental cooperation between the United States and Bangladesh on matters of trade and healthcare and as media liaison.  He has represented USBAC in roundtables and meetings with members of Congress and other officials. Mr. Hamlin earned a B.A. in molecular biology from the College of Wooster and a master’s degree in Public Health Policy and Management from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Board of Directors continued...