Hampshire College

Syma Sheikh is a spiritual advisor at Hampshire College. She has also been teacher/volunteer in the Sunday School activities in the Islamic Center of Western Mass.

Born and raised in Pakistan, Sheikh got the opportunity of studying Islam from her childhood till the end of college. After a remarkable academic history from elementary to college, she chose Islamic studies as one of her subjects when she joined University of Karachi, Pakistan. This resulted in creating more hunger for the knowledge of Islam, which continues today.

She settled in the United States in 1997. Prior to coming to this country, she was serving the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Karachi, Pakistan. She served in the important position of the executive secretary of U.S. Information Agency, and was awarded three times for her excellent performance during her six-year tenure. Inspired by her sister who serves as a Muslim chaplain at Yale University, Sheikh's interest in in-depth study of Islam grew more and more.

Hampshire is just the right place for her to share her knowledge and study the faith with students. She has introduced Dhur prayers and a separate session of Koran reading/understanding.

After joining Hampshire, she also offered her services for the students of Hindu faith, especially in helping and organizing their events. This has been a wonderful experience for her. Serving these students has been very educational, fun, and informative. All her events from Iftar dinner to Diwali pooja are very well attended by students of all faiths.

Sheikh is the mother of three precious children and a wonderful husband. Reading and traveling are two major things she enjoys, but most important of all is that she loves to dedicate most of her time to her kids, enjoying them and teaching them religious values. Besides serving Hampshire, she also works as an interpreter for state offices, schools, and two major medical centers in the area.

Sheikh is very happy to be at Hampshire College. She is honored to be blessed with such a wonderful staff of the Spiritual Life Office. All students, staff, and faculty are always welcome to talk with her. She looks forward to working with students, staff, and faculty and is happy to see the growing interfaith community on campus.