Around Campus


conversation A Conversation with Kristine Ajrouch by Leah Shutes


Kristine Ajrouch is a sociology professor, and director of the gerontology program at EMU. Her research interests include studying the experiences of Muslim Americans. She was recently awarded $30,000 fom the EMU Office of Research and Development for her project “Muslim Immigrant Experience, Trends and Outcomes.” Te project will counter the oſten-homogeneous views many people have of Muslim immigrants, shedding new light through a systematic analysis of the diverse lifestyles of people in that group.


EASTERN: Gerontology seems a long way from researching immigrants. What’s your stake in this topic? What prompted this research?


AJROUCH: My research has covered the topic of Muslim Americans for about 15 years now. I primarily focus on issues related to ethnic identity development, looking at inter-generational relationships. Tere was a call for proposals focusing on immigration, and one of the biggest challenges in doing research on Muslims in America is being able to identify Muslims, because


16 Eastern | SPRING 2013 Photograph by Randal Mascharka


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44