Former interim director encourages students to ‘develop a sense of how they want to impact the world’
After serving almost a year as interim director, Vivian Ibrahim has officially become director of the University of Mississippi‘s Office of National Scholarship Advisement.
Ibrahim, who is also Croft Associate Professor of History and International Studies, has worked with the office since 2012. Debra Young, former associate dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, brought Ibrahim in to help as a faculty adviser on interview committees for nationwide scholarships such as Rhodes, Truman and Fulbright.
“I thoroughly enjoyed engaging with the students and asking hard-pressing questions about what they wanted to do, how they were going to achieve it and what their intellectual reasoning was,” Ibrahim said. “Dr. Young nurtured a real culture of intellectual invigoration and impactful world change, which has left a deep impact on me and my vision of the office.”
In January 2020, Ibrahim was asked to step in as interim director. This position renewed her commitment to push the office to focus on student enrichment.
“As national data demonstrates, there are more applicants than ever for a limited number of big competitive awards,” she said. “As interim, I aligned the office to reflect national trends and best practices by prioritizing student development.
“I encourage students to explore their intellectual autonomy, passion and possibilities through a series of one-on-one advising sessions. This enables students to develop a sense of how they want to impact the world.”
UM administrators anticipate great advancements for ONSA under Ibrahim’s direction.
“The Office of National Scholarship Advisement plays an important role in helping students reach their maximum potential,” said Noel Wilkin, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Dr. Ibrahim has a proven track record of unleashing the passion that students have in their areas of interest, helping them to appreciate their talents, and advising them on how to find opportunities that align with their goals.
“I am confident that Dr. Ibrahim will take this office to the next level of success and will make it even more valuable to students.”
Honors College administrators are “so excited to have Dr. Vivian Ibrahim join our team at the SMBHC as the new director of ONSA,” said Douglass Sullivan-Gonzaléz, Honors College dean.
“Her extraordinary life and academic experience enable her to put life-changing questions before our students and prepare them to compete at the highest level in our nation. She is one of the university’s most popular teachers and she pushes all to their best. Our students will grow, through her influence, into the citizen scholars that mold our republic’s future.”
Ibrahim moved to the U.S. from the United Kingdom, where she completed her Ph.D. in 2011. She was hired at Ole Miss as a joint appointment in the Croft Institute for International Studies and the Arch Dalrymple Department of History. Her area is the Middle East, specifically Egypt in the 20th century.
Ibrahim became associate professor in 2014 and has served on numerous university committees. She was named the Howell Family Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2020.
By Edwin B. Smith
