Janan Najeeb
Janan Najeeb, a founding member and the current President of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition has been a spokeswoman for Milwaukee’s Muslim community to media outlets, government officials, interfaith leaders, academic institutions, hospitals, and a wide range of community groups. A microbiologist by profession, Ms. Najeeb left her career because of the tremendous need to bridge the gap between the erroneous perception of Islam and Muslims in society and the actual beliefs and practices of the vast majority of the world’s Muslims. Ms. Najeeb serves on many committees and community boards; She serves on the board of the Islamic Society of North America’s Leadership Center. She has co-chaired the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts for the past 7 years. In addition she serves on the Marcus Center’s Diversity and Audience Development Committee. She serves on many boards and committees including the Milwaukee Association for Interfaith Relations, the Muslim-Catholic Women’s Dialogue, UW-Milwaukee’s Public Health Community Advisory Council. She has served as a member of the UW-Milwaukee Chancellor’s Roundtable, and in 2008, she was designated as one of UW-Milwaukee’s Community Scholars in Residence. In 2007, Ms. Najeeb led an educational campaign on “Combating Islamophobia”, in an effort to address the growing climate of hatred and bias towards Muslims. This campaign received the annual “Special Recognition Award” from the ACLU of Wisconsin and helped initiate a local PBS documentary on Milwaukee’s Muslim community that aired in April of 2008. Ms. Najeeb serves as an adjunct professor at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, teaching the Religious Culture of Islam.Janan Najeeb is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions including the International Institute of Wisconsin’s World Citizen Award, The Wisconsin Community Fund’s Grantee of the Year Award, CAIR’s (Council on American Islamic Relations) national award for activism as well as being named by Wisconsin Woman Magazine as a Leader Making a Difference. Ms. Najeeb is married and has 5 children
