About Mary Assel

Mary Assel Writing

Bio

Mary Assel holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She taught writing to foreign students for over 30 years at the high school and college levels. She founded the English Language Institute at Henry Ford College (HFC) during the fall of 2001 and served as its director until her retirement in 2012. She holds numerous seats on the Boards of civic, social, religious (Catholic and Muslim), and educational organizations. She published and presented many articles at the local and national levels on Suggestopedia, Arab Women and Culture, Religious Barriers, Challenges in Education, and Bereavement. She played a lead role in the movie “Detroit Unleaded,” which was released in 2014 and deals with Arab women and tradition. She lived in Africa and the Middle East for over 20 years where she acquired several languages and degrees while learning and writing about different cultures and traditions.

Conferences

  • Presented – Arab Women: Religion- Taboos and Stereotypes, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor,  MI January, 2012
  • Presented – Arab Cultural Studies Program – Islamophobia – HFC, February Dearborn, MI, 2012
  • Presented as critique and panelist with – Abdul Aziz Saud Al Babtain – Arab Poetry Spring-  Dialogue of Civilizations and Culture Academic founder of the Abdul Aziz Saud Al Babtain, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI – April, 2012
  • Presented – “The Challenges and Achievements of Palestinian Women” –  HFC Dearborn, MI –  March, 2011
  • Moderated for the Common Bond Institute at the June conference 2010, –  HFC.
  • Keynote Speaker “Muslim Women in America” at the International School in Bloomfield Hills, MI April, 2011
  • Presented a Talk and performed a – Book Signing – 25 Icons of Peace in the Qur’an Henry Ford College, Winter 2011
  • Presented and performed a – Book Signing – 25 Icons of Peace in the Qur’an Bentijbeil Cultural Center, Dearborn, MI, Fall 2010
  • Performed as panelist on “Learning The AB’P’s – Correcting Prejudicial images of the Other in Schools”
- Common Bond Institute at HFCC, Dearborn, MI – Spring, 2011
  • Presented for the – ESL Drop Program – MITESOL, Ann Arbor, MI – January, 2010S
  • Presented on “Foreign students and Language Acquisition” at MITESOL – Ypsilanti, MI – September 2010
  • Coordinated “The Many Faces of Middle Eastern Arab Women” at HFC, Dearborn, MI – 1st National Conference for the Arab Cultural Studies Program, April 2010
  • Presented on “Muslim Women” – St. Mary’s Parish, Milford, MI Fall, 2010
  • Presented for USCIS – United States Citizenship and Immigration Services – Homeland Security – workshop on ESL students and helpful testing procedures, Detroit, MI – October, 2010
  • Presented on “Memory, Retention, and Neuroscience” at HFC, Dearborn, MI Winter, 2010.
  • Presented “Learning English in America” to Detroit Public Schools Career and Technical Education program in conjunction with the HFC Focus on Women program – Dearborn, MI, March, 2006
  • Presented “Learning English in America” to Al-Ikhlas Academy – July, Dearborn, MI – Winter 2006
  • Presented “On Medicine and Sensitivity,” at the North American Brain Tumor Coalition (NABTC) on this topic in Washington, DC. 2001.

Awards

  • Innovation of the Year Award – Arab Cultural Studies Program (HFC)
  • Innovation of the Year Award – Arab Cultural Studies Program (League for Innovation at the Henry Ford College)
  • Woman of the Year Award – Henry Ford College, Dearborn MI, Spring 2010
  • Faculty Lectureship Award on “Memory, Retention, and Neuroscience” Henry Ford College, Dearborn MI, Winter, 2010

Professional Memberships

  • MCEA -Michigan College English Association
  • TESOL-Teachers of English as a Second Language
  • AERA-American Educational Research Association
  • Creative Nonfiction Foundation
  • Bilingual Research Journal
  • Cognition and Instruction