UNE’s Anouar Majid featured in Incomer Magazine
Anouar Majid, Ph.D., vice president for Global Affairs and founding director of the Center for Global Humanities, has been highlighted in the winter issue of Incomer Magazine, where he discussed cultural traditions and his role in establishing the University of New England’s campus in Tangier, Morocco.
In “The Maine-Morocco Connection: Anouar Majid Helps Make Maine Open to the World,” Majid described the reasoning behind making Morocco the hub of UNE’s global operations.
A native of Tangier, Majid said Morocco is the perfect place for students to learn about global traditions.
“For a university that’s seeking to expose its students to many cultural traditions, it really doesn’t get better than Morocco,” Majid told writer Deirdre Fulton.
The country is at once a Mediterranean, Muslim, Arab, and African nation, and several languages are spoken there. It is also safe, Majid said, and is known for its openness to religion. Tangier’s location within Morocco means it is just an hour away by ferry from Spain and Europe.
“These are the traits we want to inculcate in our students and community,” Majid said. “To be from Morocco … is to be open to the world.”
UNE opened the Tangier Campus in January 2014. Housed in the campus of the American School of Tangier, the campus hosts students for both semester and yearlong study-abroad programs.
Majid, a professor of English, has lived in the United States since 1983 and in Maine since 1991. He is the founding director of the Department of English, which he chaired from 2000 to 2009, as well as the founding director of the Tangier Global Forum.
Also included in the winter issue of Incomer Magazine is a short piece on the construction of an authentic Moroccan tile wall in the Danielle N. Ripich Commons. Completed in 2018, the wall symbolizes UNE’s openness to the world beyond Maine’s shores, its embrace of diverse cultures, and its extraordinary commitment to global education.
“There’s no better expression of our global aspirations,” Majid said at the time of the wall’s unveiling. “It reflects not only our presence in Morocco, but also our global aspiration to be open to other civilizations and to embrace other cultures and traditions.”