2008 Fulbright Interfaith Community Action Program
"I am intimately aware of the high quality and sustainability of the Dialogue Institute's work from two perspectives: I myself as a participant, and as a faculty member in Lebanon, sending students to the DI's SUSI program since 2010.
(My Fulbright experience) offered me the chance to discover the rich field of interreligious dialogue that the DI exists to encourage and sponsor. I met people and scholars who are now part of my network in this good work. The fruits of my experience with the DI are ongoing; I am active as a State Department alumnus, and both my students and I have received State Department grants for work that we can largely thank the DI for inspiring and encouraging. My experience with the DI and my collegial relationships with its staff are my point of reference in this work to promote religious pluralism. I can say that my experience in this field would not have been complete without the Dialogue Institute. We in conflict zones in this dangerous world need such role models of applied as well as theoretical interreligious dialogue and outreach."
In addition to participating in the DI's orientation training for the 2008 Fulbright Interfaith Community Action Program, Dr. Ziad Fahed has sent numerous Lebanese students to participate in the DI's Study of the U.S. Institutes on Religious Pluralism.
He went on to establish the Interreligious Academy in Lebanon in 2010, and also founded—along with some of those students, including Ramzi Merhej—and continues to serve as President of the Dialogue for Life and Reconciliation in Beirut, a non-governmental organization which is extremely active in promoting interfaith dialogue and building interactive bridges among several different communities in Lebanon—mainly among the youth.
Ziad is currently Dean of Students and Professor at Notre Dame University-Louaize, Lebanon. He is a board member for World Vision (Lebanon), and also a member of the American Academy of Religion, the International Association of Sociology of Religion, the International Society for the Sociology of Religion and the Justice and Charity Movement, whose main mission is to study the social doctrine of the Church in the Middle East, as well as several NGOs working on sectarianism.
In 2014, the DI honored Ziad with its “Outstanding Leader in Interreligious Dialogue."
