URBANA, IL, May 31, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Valerie J. Hoffman, Ph.D., with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Hoffman celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
With more than 35 years of professional excellence in the academic study of religion, Dr. Hoffman has been serving as a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 2011, where she also worked as a visiting lecturer from 1983 to 1986, assistant professor from 1986 to 1994, associate professor from 1994 to 2011, and head of the Department of Religion from 2015 to 2019. From 2011 to 2015, she also worked as director of the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In that position, she secured grants for the center that funded new faculty positions, courses, scholarships, workshops and lectures. Even though she has experienced many highlights throughout her career, she is especially proud of the research that led to the publication of her first book, "Sufism, Mystics and Saints in Modern Egypt," which was published by the University of South Carolina Press in 1995.
An expert in her field, Dr. Hoffman holds a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Islamic studies from the University of Chicago. Between her undergraduate and graduate degrees, she was a fellow in the Center for Arabic Study Abroad program, a twelve-month intensive, advanced Arabic immersion program held at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Utilizing her extensive knowledge of Middle Eastern studies, she served on the editorial board of the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has contributed 70 articles to journals, books and encyclopedias. Additionally, she authored "The Essentials of Ibadi Islam" in 2012 and wrote, narrated and produced a documentary, "Celebrating the Prophet in the Remembrance of God: Sufi Dhikr in Egypt," in 1997. Most recently, she published an edited volume, "Making the New Middle East: Politics, Culture, and Human Rights," in 2019.
Dr. Hoffman is a member of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, for which she served on the board of directors from 1995 to 1998, and of the American Academy of Religion, for which she served on the editorial board of its journal from 1994 to 1998 and on the steering committee of the Study of Islam section from 1989 to 1993. She has also served on the fellowships committee of the American Research Center in Egypt and on the advisory committee of the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa. She is also a member of the Association for Middle East Women's Studies and the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies.
Dr. Hoffman has been the recipient of several prestigious fellowships, including two Fulbright fellowships for research in Egypt from 1987 to 1989 and in Oman and Yemen from 2000 to 2001, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1991 to 1992, and a grant from the Carnegie Scholars Program of the Carnegie Corporation of New York from 2009 to 2010. In recognition of her professional accomplishments, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign presented her with the prestigious University Scholar Award in 1996. Dr. Hoffman has won other awards at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, including the Arnold O. Beckman Award in 2000, the William and Flora Hewlett Award in 1996 and 1998, and an Alumni Discretionary Award for service to the university in 2008. Between 1976 and 1979, she was a National Defense Education Act Title VI Fellow as a graduate student at the University of Chicago.
Married to Dr. Kirk Oliver Hauser since 1998, Dr. Hoffman has three children from a previous marriage: Rachel, Michael and Deborah Ladd.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to her profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Dr. Hoffman has been featured on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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