A Special Congratulations for Dr. Gizem Zencirci!
Congratulations to the Accinno Award Recipient: Gizem Zencirci, Ph.D.
Gizem Zencirci, Ph.D., associate professor of political science and director of the Middle East Studies program, is the 2024-25 Joseph R. Accinno Faculty Teaching Award recipient. The award is presented annually to the Providence College faculty member “who best exhibits excellence in teaching, passion and enthusiasm for learning, and genuine concern for students’ academic and personal growth.”
Dr. Zencirci, who has been a member of the PC faculty since 2013, has taught a wide range of courses in the Department of Political Science, as well as in the Middle East Studies and Development of Western Civilization programs. These include Middle East Politics; Globalization and the Muslim World; Middle East: Connections & Conversations; Women, Gender, Sexuality in the Middle East; Art and Revolutions in the Muslim World; Human Rights; and Comparative Revolutions.
In her teaching philosophy statement, Dr. Zencirci acknowledged that many of the topics discussed in her courses “often make students uncomfortable.” However, she said when they are approached honestly and respectfully, students “start to think about political issues from different perspectives, ask questions, and reflect critically on their assumptions.”
“I encourage my students to understand that people experience the world through different ethnic, social, economic, linguistic, and religious lenses, and emphasize that understanding this multiplicity is central to the study of politics,” she wrote. “While I try to teach acceptance of cultural differences, I also want my students to understand that certain values — freedom, equality, justice, rights — are universal values regardless of one’s cultural background.”
More about Dr. Zencirci:
- Earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Research interests: Islamic neoliberalism, Middle East politics, religious politics, civil society, politics of charity, welfare regimes, Islamic politics, postcolonial and decolonial studies, heritage studies, cultural studies, gender studies, ethnographic and interpretive methods, Turkey, Malaysia
- Author of The Muslim Social: Neoliberalism, Charity, and Poverty in Turkey (Syracuse University Press, 2024)
- Professional affiliations: The Civilizationism Project at Stanford University; The Islamic Intellectual Field and Political Theorizing in Turkey; the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action; the Middle East Studies Association; and the American Political Science Association
More about the Accinno Award
The Joseph R. Accinno Faculty Teaching Award was created in 2002. John J. Accinno, C.P.A. ’46, ’93Hon. established the award with a gift of $150,000 in memory of his brother Joseph. John Accinno served as a member of the Providence President’s Council for 13 years. A loyal alumnus, he established more than a dozen scholarships at the college and served in virtually every volunteer fundraising leadership position. He was a three-term secretary of the National Alumni Association (NAA) Board of Governors and earned awards for his generosity and service from the NAA and the Greater Providence Chapter of the NAA, the Mal Brown Club. Mr. Accinno, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and lived in Barrington, R.I., died in 2012.
The award program is administered by the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Teaching Award Selection Committee. The recipient receives a cash stipend, is formally acknowledged at Academic Convocation, and has her name inscribed on a plaque that is permanently displayed in the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Congratulations, Dr. Zencirci!
