Samira Hussein, associate professor, business administration, has an immigrant's spirit that makes her an overachiever. A native of Pakistan, a country where the female literacy rate is about 42 percent and the male literacy rate 67 percent, Hussein has proven herself by earning two bachelor's degrees and two master's degrees - a master of business administration and master of science in clinical psychology - both from Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg.

Hussein's impressive list of achievements include Distinguished International Alumni Award from UCM, Midwest Region's International Teaching Excellence Award from the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs, and a teaching award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development as well as the Educator of the Year award for promoting peace and understanding from the Crescent Peace Society in Kansas.

Hussein, who has taught at JCCC since 1995, also has been recognized for her teaching and leadership abilities with two JCCC awards - a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Faculty Achievement Award in 2002 and a Distinguished Service Award in 2003. In addition, she is a graduate of the Chair Academy, which provides leadership training for department chairs, deans and leaders in community colleges.

Hussein has three missions: To develop and teach business courses; facilitate international understanding by promoting academic exchanges, especially between Muslim countries and the U.S.; and to promote an understanding of Islam given the present political situation. Since 2008, she has been a diversity fellow in the college's Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. As such, she works with diverse communities on and off campus to promote equity and inclusion with special emphasis on international understanding and interfaith alliances.

"Immigrants have a pioneering spirit. Hard work is a given," Hussein said.

At JCCC, Hussein has been instrumental in offering distance education classes in business. She offered Personal Finance for the first time on television and then put the same class online, a prerequisite to making the business administration degree available online in the near future. She has authored curriculum in international business as well.

Hussein has fostered academic relations with business programs in several countries - the Netherlands, United Kingdom, China and especially her homeland of Pakistan, where she has lectured on global human resources management, business and strategic decision making, and use of technology in promoting global partnerships.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Hussein has been a frequent speaker on Islam. As a child, she was educated in religious tolerance, attending English-based Catholic schools in Pakistan, where nuns taught Islamic studies, and religious understanding and tolerance was part of the curriculum.

She has worked with new immigrants from religious and civic organizations to mentor them in economic, social and educational opportunities available in the U.S.

"I continuously ask myself ‘How can I make it easier for us to have intelligent and meaningful exchanges between two cultures?'", Hussein said.