Dean of Research

Through the allocation of internal research grants, the Deanship of Research provides researchers with seed funds to develop their research output and scholarly activities and explore potential collaborative partnerships with the public and private sectors in Palestine.

This office also offers up-to-date information about Grants and Fellowship Opportunities, upcoming Conferences, Lectures, and Call for Papers, to keep researchers abreast of current developments and scholarly activities in their fields.  In cooperation with the library staff, the Deanship of Research also provides lists of peer-reviewed journals in both Arabic and English for faculty and staff where they can conveniently locate appropriate venues for the publication and dissemination of their research and scholarship.

In collaboration with the Research Council, the Office of the AVP, and other University offices and centers, the Office of the Dean of Research sets research policies at the University and provides guidelines to ensure that all research is conducted in conformity with internationally accepted ethical standards.

In conjunction with the editorial board of The Bethlehem University Journal, moreover, the Deanship of Research strives to shape the research agenda at the University and offer researchers and scholars a high quality venue to publish and disseminate their work, including work that receives funding through the internal research grants.

The Office of Dean of Research provides training workshops, colloquia, and individualized mentoring opportunities to help scholars and researchers maximize their research output. In these workshops and seminars, participants explore the nature of the research process; the new modes of knowledge production that are grounded in alternative research methodologies and critical and indigenous theories; the nature of the writing process as well as devising a personalized writing agenda; and examine best practices in getting published, from understanding disciplinary conventions in writing, through the analysis of journal article abstracts, to contacting editors. These workshops also serve as venues to bring researchers together and build long-term support networks that can stimulate new synergies and collaborations among faculty and staff.

In this regard, the Office of the Dean of Research and the Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learningare co-sponsoring a Research Fellow Program on Teaching and Learning (T&L) that aims at providing a number of interested faculty members with opportunities to enhance their research skills in the field of research in T&L and develop their research portfolios and scholarship records. In conjunction with the Office of External Academic Relations, we are also exploring grant opportunities through ERASMUS and other programs to offer training in research methodologies in general.

The Deanship of Research is proud to celebrate the scholarly accomplishments of the faculty and staff at Bethlehem University and making them highly visible in the community. In recognition of excellence in faculty research, we will continue offering the annual Junior and Senior Outstanding Researcher Awards to honor and celebrate the professional achievements and scholarly productivity of its faculty and staff.

Furthermore, this Office has designed various new online features such as Faculty Accomplishments and Faculty Spotlights, which share the many achievements and the inspiring stories of faculty and staff at BU. We will also display artifacts and other items, representing all forms of scholarship produced by BU faculty and staff, in a glass showcase that will be housed across from the Executive Office in De Lasalle Building.

Research is generally considered one of the most important objective measures of a university’s quality, prestige, and standing in the world. Four out of the eight indicators that the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) uses to rank the top 1000 universities in the world have to do with research.

Research, whether intended for epistemological purposes or for practical applications, plays a pivotal role in the University’s vision and mission. Research brings recognition to the faculty members at Bethlehem University, improves the quality of students’ education, and prepares the next generation of Palestinian experts and researchers that are needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Bethlehem University is committed to supporting faculty research and promoting a culture of excellence in research across the university. The Office of the Dean of Research cooperates with various offices, councils, and organizations, on- and off-campus, and organizes various activities that aim to raise the research capacity and overall research productivity and increase the representation and visibility of researchers in international research journals and platforms. In particular, the Office of the Dean of Research seeks to work with researchers to reach out and network with international research communities and become participants in the production of significant and transformative research, knowledge, and innovative patents at the international level.

Prof. Jamil Khader received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the Pennsylvania State University. Before arriving at Bethlehem University, Dr. Khader taught at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, and at Stetson University in Deland, Florida, where he served as the Director of the Gender Studies Program, the Co-Chair of the Diversity Council, and as a member of various committees addressing tenure and promotion policies as well as grievance and academic freedom.

Prof. Khader is the author of Cartographies of Transnationalism in Postcolonial Feminisms: Geography, Culture, Identity, Politics (Lexington Books 2012) and the co-editor, with Molly Rothenberg, of a collection of essays on the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, entitled, Žižek Now: Current Perspectives in Žižek Studies (Polity 2013). He is also the author of numerous publications on postcolonial feminism, popular culture, literary theory, and pedagogy (the scholarship of teaching), which appeared in various international peer-reviewed journals and other collections, including Oxford Bibliographies in Literary and Critical Theory, Rethinking Marxism, Sophia: The International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions, Enrahona: An International Journal of Theoretical and Practical Reason, The European Journal of Popular Culture, Journal of World Systems Research, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing, The Middle East Report (MERIP), Islamophobia Studies Journal, Ariel, Feminist Studies, College Literature, MELUS, Children’s Literature, The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. He is currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Bethlehem University Journal.

Prof. Khader is the recipient of various awards including two Fulbright Fellowships (1993; 2013), a Research Award (2006), a Community Impact Award (2011), the Palestine-Quebec Science Bridge Award (2022), and the Arab American University Award for Excellence in Scientific Research (2022). Dr. Khader delivered scores of papers and chaired various panels at many international conferences. Moreover, he gave different talks and coordinated different colloquia and workshops at different institutions in the United States, Italy, Germany, Romania, and Palestine.

His political commentary has been featured on The Philosophical Salon, Aljazeera in English, Truthout, Jadaliyya, The Palestine Chronicle, Center for the Secular Research and Studies in the Arab World (Al-Hewar Al-Mutamaden), PPS Arabia, News with Conscience, and other venues. He is currently working on various articles as well as two book-length projects.

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S1PQHwQAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jamil_Khader2

Personal Website: https://www.amazon.com/Jamil-Khader/e/B00A2D3B60

DSpace: https://dspace.bethlehem.edu:8080/xmlui/browse?type=author&value=Khader%2C+Jamil

Additional links: ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4713-5426

Objective: The Office of the Dean of Research is pleased to invite you to join the Bethlehem University Research Group which aims at establishing a permanent research group at Bethlehem University that meets regularly to discuss different issues related to the development of research at the university. These workshops will provide a platform for the research community at Bethlehem University to share their research projects especially, ongoing projects, and benefit from other participants’ presentations and comments on the various topics that will be discussed in these workshops. We will be also hosting scholars from BU and elsewhere to facilitate some of these discussions.