Shadi Hamid is a columnist at The Washington Post and a research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Seminary. From 2023 to 2024, he was a member of the Post’s Editorial Board. Previously, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. Hamid is the author of several books, including most recently The Problem of Democracy. His previous book Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World was shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize for best book on foreign affairs. His forthcoming book The Case for American Power will be published in 2025 by Simon & Schuster. In 2019, Hamid was named one of the world’s top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine. He is also the co-founder of Wisdom of Crowds, a podcast, newsletter, and debate platform. Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and his Ph.D. in political science from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar.
Dr. Altaf Husain serves as an Associate Professor and chair of the Community, Administration and Policy Practice concentration in the Howard University School of Social Work, in Washington DC. He also serves as the Chair of the Curriculum Committee, with oversight for the Masters of Social Work (MSW) program. He has primary teaching responsibilities for the Displaced Populations field of practice specialization, which includes social work practice with immigrants and refugees. He recently served as a guest editor of a double issue on “Islam in the 21st century,” for the Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work His professional involvement includes serving as a co-chair of the Islam and Muslims track of the Annual Program Meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), founder and co-chair of the Immigrants and Refugees cluster of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), a former co-chair of the Race, Ethnicity and Immigration cluster of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) and a founding member of the CSWE Religion and Spirituality Working Group. Dr. Husain’s community involvement includes serving as Vice President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Vice President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research (YIIR) and a former two-term national president of the Muslim Students Association of the US and Canada. He also serves as an advisory board member of the Peaceful Families Project (PFP), dedicated to preventing domestic violence.