Najiba Akbar began her position as Tufts University’s Muslim chaplain on Nov. 12. She previously served as the Muslim chaplain at Wellesley College and is currently the Muslim spiritual advisor at Northeastern University. She is a trained personal development coach and was an Islamic studies instructor at the Islamic Center of Boston. Akbar also served as a program co-facilitator for Tufts’ Pathways interfaith dialogue initiative from 2007 to 2009. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in peace and justice studies from Wellesley College and a master’s degree in social work from Boston College.
Akbar hopes to help students navigate both their faith and the challenges of life while building off her work as an integral life coach, where she sees spiritual and psychological development as equally important.
“My goal is to support students and Tufts community members as they walk on their spiritual journey, whatever it may look like for them,” Akbar wrote in an email to the Daily. “I plan to offer religious programming as well as opportunities to discuss topics related to religion, spirituality, identity, and wellness.”
The search process for a new Muslim chaplain began just before the start of the fall semester. The Rev. Elyse Nelson Winger, university chaplain, Lynn Cooper, Catholic chaplain and associate director of the University Chaplaincy and two students, Mohamed Samater and Faizah Wulandana, formed the search committee.
According to an email from Winger to the Tufts community, the role of the Muslim chaplain is to “advise and support students active in the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and across Tufts’ campuses; offer programs that celebrate and explore the cultural and spiritual diversity of the Muslim community; provide pastoral care; and work alongside the University Chaplaincy team and campus partners on various interfaith, intercultural, social justice, and anti-racism initiatives.”
Winger highlighted how Akbar’s qualifications and her love for supporting students in their spiritual journeys prepared her for the role of Muslim chaplain.
“[Akbar] comes to Tufts with years of leadership and programming experience in higher education and credits her own years of spiritual formation as an undergraduate for her passion for accompanying students as they explore and claim their own spiritual identities and practices,” Winger wrote in the message to the student body.
According to Wulandana, a junior, Winger and Cooper filtered resumes during the search process and then the candidates were interviewed by the committee. Wulandana said that when searching for the new chaplain, candidates were evaluated not only for their background experience but also for how they would complement Tufts’ Muslim community.
“In the initial interviews, we had standardized questions to generally get a sense of the candidate's understanding of the chaplaincy position as a whole, like providing pastoral care," Wulandana said. "Also, an important role for the Muslim chaplain is working with the executive board of the MSA, so getting a sense of how they see Muslim student leaders and also understanding how they see interfaith [work was important].”
The characteristics that the committee was looking for in a new chaplain aligned with the reasons Akbar was drawn to Tufts.
“I really enjoy being in the campus setting working with students," Akbar wrote. "I was excited about working at Tufts specifically because of the wonderful interfaith chaplaincy team here. I feel that it’s a really powerful model to have chaplains from different traditions work together to serve the needs of the campus community.”
Wulandana believes that Akbar can also draw from her past experience working as a personal development coach, as well as her work at Northeastern and Wellesley, to inform her role at Tufts.
“[Akbar] also mentioned in her interview looking at things in hindsight and learning from her previous roles, which she's had a couple [of], like chaplain at Wellesley College, which is a different environment from Tufts," Wulandana said. "But certainly, lessons can be learned from any chaplaincy position to become a better chaplain for a new community."
Akbar has already begun connecting with the community during the short time she has been at Tufts.
“She's already said that she wants to meet every member of the executive board of the Muslim Student Association, which I think is a lot of dedication because [there are] quite a few of us." Wulandana said. "I think it's very clear that she sees her role as someone who is deeply embedded in the community but also provides ... group events and opportunities.”
Akbar hopes to foster connections with Tufts students both within and outside of the Muslim community.
“I would like people to know that my role as a chaplain is not limited to [serving] any one community or identity group, and my door is always open to anyone who wants a conversation partner to navigate life’s ups and downs, twists and turns,” Akbar wrote.
