Dawood Yasin was appointed the Muslim Life and International Service & Education Advisor at the William Jewett Tucker Foundation in September of 2009. This role provides spiritual and religious support, offers educational seminars, and leads congregational prayers for Muslim residents at Dartmouth College and in the greater Hanover area. Dawood will also work to foster understanding and dialogue amongst the diverse campus groups by building and maintaining interfaith relations. In addition, he will assist students in the International Service and Education program (I-SEP) in upholding their commitment to responsible citizenship, value-based leadership, and enrichment of their education in order to promote ethics-based interactions within a globalized community. His specific assignments within I-SEP include advising an international alternative spring break trip, international service fellowships, Poverty Awareness Week, Dartmouth Ends Hunger and Amnesty International.
During his residence in South Africa Dawood converted to Islam and then spent five years in Damascus, studying Arabic, Islam, and spirituality. Upon completion of his studies he returned to New Haven, CT where he taught and engaged in research at Yale University. Most recently, Dawood served as Director of Outreach at the Zayed Center for Islamic Culture in the United Arab Emirates. There he gained considerable insight and experience in interfaith work. He also engaged in public speaking within the U.A.E. and abroad, emphasizing ethics and tolerance in addressing misconceptions within and between the Islamic and non-Islamic communities. Dawood spends his summers as an Arabic language instructor at the Zaytuna Institute in Berkeley, California.
Dawood was born and raised in Nantucket, Massachusetts and completed his B.S. in Community Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Dawood lives with his wife and three daughters in Vermont.
