by JENNIFER HA

Every issue, we interview faculty and staff who are new to campus or new to their positions here at Augustana. This issue, we interviewed Robin Willey, a sessional instructor in sociology, and Amal Chehayeb, an sessional instructor in French.

We asked them the following questions:

1) Have you lived anywhere outside of Alberta? If so, where? 

2) If you had a theme song to describe your life or capture your personality, what would it be?

3) What is your number one pet peeve when marking?

Robin Willey has recently defended his PhD dissertation at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. His research generally focuses on Evangelical Christianity in Canada. Although he has previously published articles on the difficulties of conducting research in church communities and the sexual practices of Evangelical young adults, his current research looks to investigate the changing theo-political orientations of Canadian Evangelicals.

1. Nope. I have lived in six different places in Alberta, however, which has got to count for something. Right?
2. “Chapel Song” by We are Augustines. I can’t tell you why. It has just been on my main playlist for almost 3 years now. I guess it might speak to some of the grad school related angst I have been experiencing over the last several years. Thank goodness that is done! But, a close second would be “Reason to Believe” by Bruce Springsteen. The song pretty much sums up why I think the sociological study of religion is important.
3. Semicolon use! In an ideal world, students would have to write a certification exam to obtain the right to use semi-colons in their work. Or an outright ban, I could get behind that too. These things would make the world a better place.

Amal Chehayeb is a French instructor.  She taught AUFRE101 and AUFRE201 last term and is teaching AUFRE 102, AUFRE202, and AUFRE 301. She also is a belly dancing instructor.

1. I was born in Lebanon.  In 1976 we moved to Alberta to escape the civil war.  My father was a pilot for the Middle East Airlines.  He quit his job and bought a Burger  Baron in Wetaskiwin where the whole family worked while going to school. I lived in Buffalo, New York for one year where I attended college. During my career as a teacher, I worked in Lebanon for 5 years as an elementary school teacher; in Adelaide , Australia for 8 months where I taught French and Spanish to beginner adults; in Doha, Qatar for one year where I taught at the Qatar Canadian School; in Amman, Jordan, as well as Guadalajara, Mexico for 5 months each, teaching at their Canadian Schools.

2.  Roar by Katy Perry. Although I depend a lot on my partner and enjoy his company and am grateful for all that he does for me and my family, I know I have proven to myself over and over again that I am able to get up every time I fall.

3. Not a lot bothers me when I am marking.  Once I find my flow I am able to mark quite happily.  What I dislike is receiving a late assignment as I would need to review my previous method on the assignments that have already been marked in order to be consistent.