Associate Professor of Religious Studies/Theology Dr. Fran Leap spent a month traveling and studying in Egypt during the summer of 2007 with 11 other local professors and teachers. The trip was coordinated through the Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies, a collaboration of 28 academic, non-profit and religious organizations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, of which Seton Hill is a founding member.

Supported by a travel grant from the Fulbright-Hays program of the U.S. Department of Education, the trip was designed to provide the participants with first-hand experience of a country that, as Dr. Leap describes, "has served as crossroads culturally, politically, and religiously since ancient times.”

While in Egypt, Dr. Leap had the opportunity to meet with professors at a variety of Universities, talk to representatives from Christian and Muslim religious groups, and travel through both urban and rural communities.

The group prepared for the trip to Egypt for two years with workshops, online discussions, readings, and meetings.

“We all came from different fields,” said Dr. Leap. “Political science, criminal justice, history, social work, economics… we all came to this project with different perceptions, and were mutually enriched by one another.”

“There is so much misinformation about Islam,” says Dr. Leap, who served for two weeks in December 2003 as a visiting scholar at South Valley University in Egypt. “As a professor it is very valuable to experience first-hand this microcosm of the Muslim world.”