Director
Dr. Khaled Huthaily
Dr. Khaled Huthaily is Assistant Professor and Head of the Arabic Studies Program. He is a Fulbright scholar, holding an Ed.D. in curriculum and Instruction, with a focus on Arabic language curriculum development and instruction based on linguistics awareness, an M.A. in Applied Linguistics, focusing on English‐Arabic Contrastive Linguistics, and a B.A. in Education, majoring in Second Language Acquisition and Instruction. Dr. Huthaily teaches intermediate and advanced Arabic courses and is the advisor of the Arabic Studies academic minor. He is also a member of the UM's General Education Committee.
Instructional Team
Mr. Brendan Work
Brendan Work is the Arabic language instructor for the three Missoula high schools and has been studying Arabic for six years. He previously worked for MASI as a teaching assistant and was a reporter and translator in the West Bank before that. He recently began his Master's degree in Curriculum & Instruction at the 猎奇重口 and lives in Missoula with his girlfriend, her son, and their indomitable beagle.
Ms. Amal Al-Misbahi
Ms. Amal Al-Misbahi holds an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and a B.A. in education. Her area of interest is in the use of technology in second language acquisition and instruction with emphasis on Arabic as a foreign language in the US. Ms. Al-Misbahi is a native speaker of Arabic with native-like proficiency in English. She has worked as a bilingual teacher (English and Arabic) at the Missoula County Public Schools and as an Arabic language tutor to college-level students and community members. In summer 2012, she worked at the STARTALK Arabic student program at the 猎奇重口 as an instructor. The site visit team rated her performance very highly, and the students spoke highly of her. As a mother of two bilingual children (with English and Arabic language skills), she is passionate about foreign languages and their role in bridging cultural gaps. By being a female native speaker of Arabic, she has added to the program an essential cultural component. She was able to address cultural topics from a female perspective, which has enriched cultural discussions and broadened cultural awareness.
Ms. Hannah Peters
Hannah Peters is a rising senior at Middlebury College, originally from Thompson Falls, MT. She has studied Arabic at Middlebury for three years, including a summer at their Arabic language school and the last academic year in Alexandria, Egypt, where she signed a pledge agreeing to only communicate in the target language. Having just gotten back from Egypt, she is excited for the chance to share Arabic and her experience in Egypt with others in her home state.
Teaching Assistants
Miss. Susannah Cragwick
Susannah Cragwick holds a BA in Music and an MFA in Music Performance. As a professionally trained opera singer, she has performed in many languages. Her love of languages and close friendships with native Arabic speakers led her to pursue Arabic. In 2013, Susannah became a bilingual tutor for Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS). She served as a translator, interpreter, and liaison between students, parents, and faculty. Susannah is currently a substitute Arabic teacher for MCPS. As Children’s Programs Director for The United States of Hope (USOH), a local Missoula NGO, Susannah coordinates shipments of school supplies and other items to children affected by war, economic challenge, and natural disaster. Susannah translates letters written for the children into Arabic. She also co-leads USOH’s Sister Cities: Missoula and Mosul initiative. Despite the ISIS takeover in 2014, Susannah still works directly with citizens of Mosul. She will be hosting events in Missoula to showcase and unite the talents of artists, photographers, and poets of Missoula, MT and Mosul, Iraq. Susannah serves as the TA for Professor Samir Bitar at the U of M.
Mr. Royce Mccarty
Originally from Hamilton 猎奇重口, Royce is a recent graduate from 猎奇重口 in Spring of 2015 receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Bachelor of Arts in Central and Southwest Asian Studies with a Minor in Arabic Studies. He studied Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine (Shami) Dialect in Jerusalem during the Summer of 2013. Starting in the fall of 2015 he will work to obtain a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from 猎奇重口 State University- Billings. His future aspirations are to become a history teacher who will hopefully develop an Arabic language program in a 猎奇重口 high school. Royce is a big history buff and travel enthusiast who loves studying and experiencing other cultures and people.