NES Faculty

Hebatalla Elkhateeb- Musharraf, Ed.D
Lecturer in Arabic
email: helkhate@princeton.edu

Dr. Hebatalla Elkhateeb-Musharraf is the newest faculty member in the Department of Near Eastern Studies. Originally from Cairo, Egypt, she is a native speaker of Arabic and considers herself first and foremost a linguist. Her interest in foreign languages blossomed at an early age, and after finishing her undergraduate studies at Cairo University, she decided to specialize in the teaching of languages. She continued her studies in the United States expanding her knowledge of other languages like French, German, Portuguese, and Hebrew, as well as studying linguistics. Her interests ultimately lead to a Doctorate in Education, with a major in Curriculum and Instruction at the Department of Teaching and Learning at Tennessee State University. Her dissertation focused on the integration of technology as a tool to promote active learning and constructivist learning skills. She has taught Methods of Teaching Language Arts and Reading to English teachers and has supervised student-teachers seeking teacher certification by the State of Tennessee.

“Dr. Heba,” has been teaching the Arabic language at the collegiate level for fourteen years. She has taught Arabic for the U.S. Department of Defense at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to the Special Forces of Airborne 101. She pioneered the introduction of Arabic language courses at Tennessee State University and she is the founder of the Arabic curriculum at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Her grounding in teaching methods and approaches to language, and her multi-language background enables her students to approach the Arabic language in a most unique way. “I am very passionate about teaching Arabic. At Princeton University we have the distinction of being home to the most extensive collection of Arabic manuscripts in the Western Hemisphere. Arabic enhances the linguistic understanding of many of today’s modern languages. Studying Arabic facilitates a historical understanding of not only languages, but also of all major fields of study – medicine, science, mathematics, engineering, religion, politics, and literature. Arabic is a very expressive language and hence, it enriches the thought patterns of any person who studies it and affects the entire paradigm of thinking and feeling.”

Dr. Elkhateeb-Musharraf devotes herself to facilitating her students’ linguistic competence, understanding and learning with a multicultural perspective.