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EXPERTISE

Sociology
Immigration
Refugee Resettlement
Research Methods
Inequality

FACULTY PROFILE

Dr. Fatima Sattar is an Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Anthropology and Sociology Program at ������ University. She has a PhD & MA in Sociology from Boston College and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from The University of Chicago. She earned a BA in Sociology, Summa Cum Laude, from Aurora University. Her teaching and research focus on U.S. immigration and refugee resettlement, welfare, belonging, race, class and gender inequalities, and research methods. At GovState, she has served on the Social Work Advisory Board, Student Disabilities Services Advisory Committee, and is a member of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition.

Dr. Sattar has conducted research with immigrant- and refugee-serving nonprofit organizations in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. She speaks on U.S. immigration and refugee resettlement topics at ������campus events, academic conferences, and community events. Past ������speaking events included the Institutional Engagement and Excellence: Lunch and Learn Series, Social Work Advisory Board’s Cross-Cultural Dialogue & Cultural Empathy: Immigration, Race and Refugee Rights Event, and the World Diversity Day for Dialogue and Development: The Global Humanitarian Crisis.

Dr. Sattar has been teaching sociology courses for over 16 years and has taught at Augustana College, Labouré College, Boston College, and Aurora University. She has taught Introduction to Sociology, Senior Capstone, Junior Seminar, Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods, Immigrant Rights, Welfare and Belonging, Inequality, and Race and Class. Her teaching philosophy centers on:

1. critical thinking and thoughtful reflection
2. student-centered active and experiential learning
3. diverse and inclusive learning opportunities to help prepare students to thrive in our global society

For example, in active-learning exercises, students have created videos that reflect global and local social constructs/culture/socialization, analyzed visual images in social life, conducted immigrant story research projects, conducted breaching experiments to test social norms, or raised awareness for poverty through creating promotional materials. Through community partnerships, Dr. Sattar has organized civic engagement and service-learning opportunities for students, emphasizing race, class, status, and/or gender inequalities, with the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, River Bend Food Bank, local refugee resettlement organizations, Palomares Social Justice Center, Pilsen Food Pantry, South Suburban Housing Center, and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

She intends to continue to work on civic engagement, active learning, and service learning opportunities to promote student-centered learning through developing faculty pedagogy workshops and community partnerships.

AWARDS, HONORS, AND DISTINCTIONS

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s “Civic Engagement and Voting Rights Teacher Scholars Program” Fellow hosted by Clemson University, 2024-2025

Honoree of “Woman Who Advocates for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” at ������ University, 2024

Intellectual Life Grant (co-recipient with Dr. Vickii Coffey) for Co-Organizing: World Diversity Day for Dialogue and Development: The Global Humanitarian Crisis, Film Screening and Educational Symposium, ������ University, 2024

SAGE Publishing Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award, 2020

Donald White Teaching Excellence Award Boston College, 2016

PUBLISHED WORKS

Sattar, F., & Strunk, C. 2024. Showing Up And Opening Up: Conducting Research With and About Refugee Resettlement Organizations. Geographical Review, 1-20.

Fatima Sattar, Invited Book Review of Erickson, Jennifer, “Race-Ing Fargo: Refugees, Citizenship, and the Transformation of Small Cities”, Social Forces, Volume 100, Issue 2, December 2021, Page e21,

Dodson, Lisa, Freeman, Amanda & Sattar, Fatima. 2012. “What It Takes: Deep Engagement to Promote Single Mothers’ Social Mobility.” Disrupting the Poverty Cycle: Emerging Practices to Achieve Economic Mobility. Conference Journal Article. Boston: Crittenton Women’s Union, p. 48-53,

Sattar, Fatima, Co-editor. Working Papers Journal Collection: Gender, Sexuality and Urban Spaces. Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.