Roles

        I graduated from the University of Tripoli in 1978 with a BA in English and Education. I began my graduate studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., from which I obtained a master's degree in theoretical linguistics in 1981. I later joined the University of Essex and obtained a PhD in Language and Linguistics in 1996. As a Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English, University of Tripoli, I currently teach theoretical linguistics and phonology courses to graduate students. My academic work has focused on theoretical phonology. Publications include: Optimal Measures (1999), Word Edges in Modern Standard Arabic: A Class-Based Reinterpretation (1999), Perspectives on Arabic Phonology (2001), Optimality Theory (2002), Phonology for EFL Teachers (2006), Project Novel (in preparation).

         I currently hold the position of Director General of the National Center for Modern Languages ​​and I also work as Coordinator of English Language Programs at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Previously, from 2007 until 2012, I worked as General Director of Language Centers in Libyan universities. Language centers were established in Libyan universities as a joint project between the Libyan Ministry of Higher Education and the British Council. The project I managed during the period is known for its successes as it established ten modern language centers across Libya and provided a sustainable model of language education that was replicated between 2007-2012 in a number of sectors in Libya and beyond. The project won the British Council Strategic Impact Award in 2009 in recognition of its achievements. In order to benefit from the expertise on a broader scale and provide the same quality of service to the largest Libyan population, the National Center for Modern Languages ​​was established in 2013 as a distinguished academic center for language study and to provide a sustainable model for continuing language study.

Academic and professional development.

Tasks and contributions

• 2014 Head of the delegation charged with signing a cooperation agreement with the Bourguiba Language Institute in Tunisia
• 2013 Member of the Supreme Council for Higher Education and Scientific Research
• March 2014 Member of the Ministerial Delegation to the United States of America
• 2012 Coordinator of the working group for Libyan-American cooperation for the Higher Education sector.
• 2012-2013 Chairman of the committee establishing Teacher Language Colleges.
• July 2012 Member of the Ministerial Delegation to the European Union on Mediterranean Cooperation in the higher education sector
• 2012 Member of the US Fulbright Grants Selection Committee
• 2010-2011 Member of the working group for establishing foreign university compounds
• 2009-2010 Chairman of the Educational Curricula Evaluation Committee at the Secondary Level
• July 2009 Member of the Libyan Delegation to the Specialized Libyan-British Leadership Conference, Wilton Park (WP 983)
• 2009-2011 Member of the Supervisory Committee for the Implementation of the University of Tripoli and Southampton University Agreement
• 2002-2010 Postgraduate Coordinator, Department of English
• 1978-1979 Translator at Umm Al-Jawabi Oil Company

Careers

• 2013 to the present: Director General of the National Center for Modern Languages
• 2012-2013: General Coordinator of English Language Programs in Higher Education Institutions
• 2012-2013: General Director of Language Centers in Libyan Universities
• 2007-2012: General Coordinator of the English Language Teaching Project at Language Centers in Libyan Universities
• 2007-2019: Director of the Language Center at the University of Tripoli
• 1996 to the present: Associate Assistant Professor / Professor, English Department - Teaching linguistics/phonology to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
• 1981-1991: Lecturer in the English Language Department, teaching undergraduate students and non-specialist students.
• 1979-1980 Teaching Assistant in the English Department.

Research Interests

        Current research  concentrates on comparative phonology and specifically on phonological symbolism as a reflection of cognitive behaviour.

        Also, current research includes investigation and reinterpretation and representation of Islamic scholarly phonological works of renowned scholars such as Ibn Jinni, Sibawayeh and Ibn Abi Ishaq, in modern linguistics terms.

External Activities

• I have participated and contributed to a number of national projects including serving as coordinator of the Libyan American Higher Education Task Force and also as a member of the Fulbright Libya Selection Committee (2012). I also chaired the committee to establish the National Language Institutes and the working group to establish a distinguished educational centers in Libya.

• After the 2011 revolution, I co-organized the diploma program established by the University of Tripoli, the International Organization for Migration and the Italian Development Cooperation to address psychological responses in war-torn societies. I also participated in the UNHCR workshop on displacement and human rights in 2013; also organizing a workshop on the results of the national survey on the Libyan constitution: “The Constitution We Want.”