Gamal Gasim

I am from Yemen, a country of a rich cultural heritage and civilization. Currently I am a PhD candidate in political science at Texas Tech University. I joined this prestigious academic institution in the fall of 2004. I earned my B.S. degree (Honors) in political science from the University of Khartoum-Sudan. I earned my first master's degree in Islamic Civilization from the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization-Malaysia (ISTAC) in 2000. I was fully sponsored by ISTAC. I came to the United States as a Fulbright student to pursue my second master's degree in political science at Kansas State University from 2002 to 2004.

I was a recipient of a number of departmental and Graduate School scholarships. I was awarded Oden Memorial Scholarship for political science graduate students in the fall of 2005 and Kent Presson Scholarship for the fall 2007. I am also a recipient of James D. and Mary Hazelwood Memorial Graduate Fellowship for the academic year 2007/2008. I taught American public policy for four semesters here at Texas Tech University. I was awarded the Professing Excellence Teaching Award from the Department of Housing & Residence Life, Texas Tech University. This is a campus-wide award and was given to "outstanding faculty who go above and beyond, in and out of the classroom, to impact their students' learning and academic success". I taught also at the Arabic Language Immersion Program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in summer 2006. I was also a TEACH fellow for the academic year 2006/2007.

My advisor is Prof. Dennis Patterson. I am highly indebted to Prof. Patterson for motivating and supporting me throughout my graduate study at Texas Tech. He helped me to translate my ideas into a challenging but promising research. In the fall of 2006 and with the financial support of the department of political science here at Texas Tech, we were able to survey around 4000 American Muslims in more than 16 states. This survey will answer the following questions: What are the major socioeconomic and political factors that motivate Muslim Americans to vote? Is there any variation among Muslim Americans in their voting behavior before and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq? Specifically, this survey will determine which Muslim Americans voted for G.W. Bush in 2000 and whether or not these voters were consistent in the 2004 presidential election.

This survey will also determine what issues are important to Muslim Americans, and it will provide a way to determine whether domestic or foreign policy issues are weighted more heavily in their political evaluations.

I am also conducting another research with Prof. Tara Stevens from the college of Education. This study is designed to examine non-political science major students' self-determination and motivation in required political science classes. This study helps us to identify if differences exist in self-determination and motivation among Texas Tech students enrolled in American Public Policy 2302 and American Government 1301. Because some types of motivation are associated with more positive educational outcomes than others, the results of this study may help us to understand why some students excel when others struggle and to make modifications to existing course structure to facilitate positive motivational outcomes. The study uses standard survey q uestionnaires developed by scholars in the area of self-determination theory (SDT). I strongly believe in our slogan that from here it is possible. Therefore, I would recommend attending graduate school at Texas Tech University to any inspiring and dedicated student.