Victoria (“Vika”) Romaine Gardner
460 Park Avenue, Meadville, PA 16335
(814) 853-5744 (cell)

Education
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Ph.D., Department of Near Eastern Studies, December 2006.  
Dissertation title:  The Written Representations of a Central Asian Sufi Shaykh:  Ahmad ibn Mawlana Jalal al-Din Khwajagi Kasani “Makhdum-i A’zam” (d. 1542)
Research Fields:  Central Asian Sufism, Central Asian History (especially medieval-early modern), Gender in the Islamic World, Persianate literature
A.M., Modern Middle Eastern and North African Studies, 1996.
A.M., Russian and East European Studies, 1996.
Thesis:  Identity in Nineteenth Century Turkestan:  The Sarts. 
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, summer 1994, 1996-1998.
Department of Central Eurasian Studies:  Central Eurasian History, Central Eurasian Sufi orders with Prof. Yuri Bregel and Prof. Devin DeWeese.
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
B.A., summa cum laude, 1993.  3.8 GPA, President’s Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Theta Omega
Major:  History.  Foci:  Middle Eastern, Russian and Soviet history
Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT
	Summer Russian program, 1987, 1988.

Teaching Experience
​Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
	Religious Studies 140, “Introduction to Islam”, Fall 2008-2011. 
FS/Religious Studies 201,  “The Qurʾān”, Spring 2010, Spring 2012
	RS 230, “Scriptural Studies, The Qurʾān”, Spring 2011
Religious Studies 190, renumbered as RS 146, “Islam in America”, Fall 2010
Religious Studies 215, “Gender & Sexuality in the Islamic World”, Spring 2009-2012
Religious Studies 270, renumbered as RS 142, “Islamic History I (570-1725)”, Fall 2009
Religious Studies 275, “The Middle East in Film:  Iran”, Spring 2010
	FS 102, “Love and Family in Contemporary Iranian Cinema”, Spring 2011
Religious Studies 280, renumbered as RS 144, “Islamic History II (1725-Present)”, Fall 2008, Fall 2010
Religious Studies 375, Muḥammad in the Eyes of Muslims, Spring 2012
Religious Studies 580, Junior Seminar, “Muhammad in the Eyes of Muslims”, Fall 2009
Religious Studies 591, Spring 2011:  Junior seminar on Islamic Mysticism
Religious Studies 591, Fall 2011:  Seminar, “Charity and Poverty in the Islamic World”
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY (one-year visiting position)
Religion 050:  Introduction to Islam (2 sections each term), Fall 2007, Spring 2008
Religion 105:  Islam in North America, Fall 2007
Religion 140B / History 177E:  Gender and Sexuality in the Islamic World, Spring 2008
Davidson College, Davidson, NC (one-year visiting position)
History 175:  Islamic Civilization and the Middle East, 600-1500, Fall 2006
History 377:  Gendered Representations in Middle Eastern History, Fall 2006
History 176:  Islamic Civilization and the Middle East since 1500, Spring 2007
History 371:  Central Eurasia since the Tenth Century, Spring 2007
History 478:  Traveling East and West:  A Historical Understanding of Islamic and European Travel Reports, Spring 2007
​University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, Fall Term 2004, Fall Term 2005.  “World Religions:  Judaism, Christianity, Islam.”  Head Graduate Student Instructor for Professors Ralph Williams, Elliot Ginsburg and Sherman Jackson (F04) and Professors Ralph Williams, Alexander Knysh and Yaron Eliav (F05).  Coordinated professors, 6 graduate students and up to 475 students.  Designed and maintained Ctools-based course web site.  Taught 3 sections per term of up to 35 students each.  Graded Honors section taught by Prof. Williams F04.
School of Education, Winter Term 2003, Fall Term 2003, Fall 2004.  “Earth Odyssey:  Uzbekistan” (with high school students via the web, university undergraduates and graduate students in the classroom).  Co-Instructor with Dr. Jeffrey Stanzler.  Wrote instructional web-based materials, created syllabus, co-taught each term with up to 20 university students.
Dept. of English, Winter Term 1999, Winter Term 2003.  “The Bible in English.”  Graduate Student Instructor for Prof. Ralph Williams.  Taught two sections per semester of up to 30 students each for this Senior-level, writing-intensive course.
Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, Winter Term 2000.  “Introduction to Islam.”  Graduate Student Instructor for Prof. Sherman Jackson.  Taught 3 sections of up to 30 students each.  Designed and implemented web site for the course.

Publications
Polishing the Mirror:  A Teaching Unit on Central and Inner Asia.  With R. T. Steponaitis.  Ann Arbor:  Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, July 2000.  (Curriculum unit, approx. 350 pages, with slides and exercises.)
In Between: (re)Negotiating Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality, exhibition cat., Bowman-Penelec-Megahan Art Galleries, Meadville, PA.: Allegheny College, 2010.  (The interviews I did were edited by Darren L. Miller to fit the catalogue; the full interviews are available online.  I interviewed five artists from the show.)
“Earth Odyssey:  Uzbekistan.  Using the Web to Connect American High School and University Students with Personal Experiences in Uzbekistan.” (with Jeff Stanzler) Central Asian Studies Review, 3/2 (Spring 2004):  41-44.
​“Polishing the Mirror:  A Teaching Unit on Central and Inner Eurasia”.  Central Asian Studies Review 1/1 (2002):  34-35.  (description of the unit)
“Adventures in Uzbekistan: Queer Woman Puts Away Labyris to ‘Pass’” and “More Adventures in Uzbekistan: Looking for Queer Folk.”  The Bloomington Beacon I/6 (Mar. 1998): 6 and I/7 (Apr. 1998): 8.  Republished in LESBIGAY SIGnals, NAFSA: Association of International Educators 4/2 (Spring 1998): 6-7.
“Makhūm-i Aʿẓām, Aḥmad (Aḥmad b. Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Khwājagī Kāsānī Makhūm-i Aʿẓām)”, Encyclopedia of Islam, 3rd edition, ed. Kate Fleet, Gundrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson.  Leiden / Boston:  Brill, 2012:  150-154.

Presentations
“Searching for Regional Muslim Communities and Their History”, with Laura O’Campo (Psych 2013), June 13, 2011, ACRoSS program, Allegheny College.
“A History of Islam in America:  Blackamericans and Islam”, January 27, 2010, Humanities Lecture, Allegheny College.
“Constructions of Gender and Sexuality in the Bahāristān of Jāmī”, Gender and Power in the Muslim World conference, 6-7 March 2009, Sarah Lawrence College, NY.
“Is Silence Golden?  Ecstasy and Sobriety, Singing and Meditation in the Dispute over Authority and Group Identities in Early Modern Islamic Mysticism”, Davidson College Department of History, March 28, 2006.
“On Archives, Friendship and Harassment:  Historical research in Uzbekistan.”  Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies Colloquium Series, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, March 24, 2006.
“Women in Uzbekistan:  Diverse Adaptations of Muslim Women to Everyday Life” and “The Sunnat in Bukhara:  Keeping Tradition / Making Tradition in 21st Century Uzbekistan.”  Diversity Day, Oakland County Schools, Michigan, September 27, 2004.
“Debating Religious Stances in Turkistan:  A 16th-Century Naqshbandi Argues Against Religious Scholars.”  Turkish Studies Colloquium, Ann Arbor, MI, November 13, 2003.
“Is Listening to Music (Samâ‘) Allowed in the Khwâjagân / Naqshbandiyya:  A Sixteenth-century answer in Mawarannahr.”  Central Eurasian Studies Society conference, Cambridge, MA, October 3, 2003.
“Muslim Women:  The Complex Lives of Muslim Women in Uzbekistan.” Telluride Association, Ann Arbor, MI, July 22, 2003.  
“Queers in Tashkent:  Ideas about Same-Sex Love in Uzbekistan.” Colloquium in Inner Asian and Uralic Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, March 23, 1998.

Professional Service
Middle East and North Africa Steering committee, September 2008-present.
During this period the committee submitted a 4-year, $400,000 grant to the Mellon Foundation in spring 2009, which was funded in the summer of 2009.  
Faculty advisor for Islamic Awareness Society (IAS), Spring 2009-Spring 2012.
Middle East Studies Lecture series, organizer, Spring 2009-present; lectured on six topics personally, and organized an additional five lectures.
Diversity Scholar-in-Residence grant, Allegheny College, Fall 2010-Spring 2011.
	Organized visit of Imam Daayiee Abdullah, a Black, gay, Muslim religious leader to campus, February 14-17, 2011.
Hosted Sam Ali Kashani, an Iranian-American documentary filmmaker to campus with help from IAS and funding from ASG, April 2011.
Academic Standards and Awards Committee, May 2011.
Review and site visit of Religion Program, Goucher College, Towson, MD, February-April 2012, with Katharina von Kellenbach (St. Mary’s College of Maryland).

Honors and Awards
Honorable Mention, Best Ph.D. Dissertation on a Topic of Iranian Studies, Iranian Studies Foundation, 2007.  “…honorable mention for high scholarship, originality, clarity, and significant contribution to the field of Iranian studies.”
Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan, 2005.  One of 12 awards from over 3000 graduate student instructors.
Michigan Teaching Fellow, Center for Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan, 2002.

Scholarships and Fellowships
U.S. Department of Education, Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, July 2000-December 2001.
International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) Individual Advanced Research Opportunities grant, Sharqshunoslik instituti, Tashkent Uzbekistan, September 2000-May 2001. 

Affiliations
​Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Alpha Theta (history honor society)
Theta Alpha Kappa (religious studies honor society)
Central Eurasian Studies Society
International Society for Iranian Studies
American Academy of Religion
American Historical Association
Middle East Medievalists
Middle Eastern Studies Association
North American Association for the Study of Religion
Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
Association for Middle East Women’s Studies
Association for the Study of Persianate Societies