Omer Bajwa

Omer Bajwa is the "Coordinator of Muslim Life" in the Chaplain's Office at Yale University. Born in Pakistan, Omer emigrated to the United States at the age of three, growing up in Upstate New York. He earned his Graduate Certificate in Islamic Chaplaincy from Hartford Seminary, and he has been engaged in religious service, social activism, and educational outreach for the past nine years. His interests include Islam in the United States, interfaith activities, Islam and the global media, and transnational religious and intellectual networks. He regularly lectures about these topics and others at campuses, congregations, and communities across the country.

Before coming to Yale, he served as the Interim Muslim Chaplain at Cornell University from 2007-2008. He received his MA in Near Eastern Studies, with a specialization in Islamic Studies, from Cornell's Department of Near Eastern Studies, where he also served as the Outreach Coordinator. He also earned an MS in Communication from Cornell, and a BA in English Literature and Rhetoric from Binghamton University.

In addition to his academic training in Islamic studies, Omer has also studied Islam from a traditional, normative perspective. He spent considerable time throughout his undergraduate and graduate career studying several classical Islamic sciences with traditional ulama from Pakistan, England, and the United States.