WRMEA, August 2010, Page 73

In Memoriam

Michael W. Suleiman (1934-2010)

By Andrew I. Killgore

Dr. Michael Wadie Suleiman. (Kansas State University)

DR. MICHAEL Wadie Suleiman, distinguished professor of political science at Kansas State University, died of cancer in Manhattan, Kansas on March 12, 2010. Dr. Suleiman's lofty title reflected his eminence as a grand teacher-scholar whose brainpower and energy enriched American intellectual and cultural life.

Born in Tiberias, Palestine three years before what the Palestinians called the "Great Strike"—really the first intifada—to halt the immigration of Jewish Europeans to Palestine, Suleiman graduated from the Bishop School in Amman, Jordan. He taught at the same school for two years while keeping the school's books. His birthplace having become a part of Israel in 1948, he left for England in 1955. He taught physics, chemistry, and basketball at the Abbotsholme School in Derby for one year. In 1956, he left for the United States.

After earning a degree in political science at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, in 1960, Dr. Suleiman went on to earn his Master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In 1965, he joined the faculty of Kansas State University as a political science professor. He became a full professor in 1972 and a University Distinguished Professor in 1990. The Michael W. Suleiman Chair in Arab and Arab-American Studies was begun by John Hofmeister, one of Dr. Suleiman's former students.

Dr. Suleiman took a leading part in founding the Association of Arab American University Graduates (AAUG) and became its president in 1977. His highly respected book Arabs in America assembled the best research available on this increasingly distinguished ethnicity and established Dr. Suleiman as a leader in Arab American ethnic studies and history. He played a significant role in establishing the American Arab National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan and was a member of its National Advisory Board.

In 1987, he received the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Member award, and in 1986-1987 was selected as a Mid-America State Universities Association Honor Lecturer. He received several research awards, including one from the Institute of Advanced Study Fellowship in Princeton University (1994-1995) to write about Arabs in the United States; a National Endowment for the Humanities grant; and four Fulbright-Hays Fellowships (summers 2003, 1993, 1991, and 1983-1984).

Dr. Suleiman's latest endeavor was a national conference on Arab-American women which took place at Kansas State University in March 2009. The results of the conference are to be published by the Syracuse University Press. He was editing the paper into a book when he became ill. The groundbreaking nature of that conference will live on in its printed form, thanks to Dr. Suleiman's love and passion for this subject.

According to one of his dearest friends, Prof. Jack Shaheen, Suleiman spent his life trying to create better understanding between Arabs and Americans. Suleiman, who was both an articulate speaker and writer, knew how the media depicts Arab Americans, and never stopped working to try to change those false stereotypes. "He loved finding an unknown story about an Arab American who had served this country and then he set about documenting it," Shaheen said. "He cared, he was one of the very best; a kind, great human being. He will be missed."

Americans should not forget that the United States is a beneficiary of the Palestine tragedy. Thousands of brilliant Palestinians filled the ranks of the faculties of American universities until, at one point, "the Palestinian professor" or "the Arab professor" became a commonly used expression in university circles.

Dr. Suleiman married Penelope Powers in 1963. She survives him, as do their two children, Suad Michelle Evans and Gibran Michael Suleiman.