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Rebecca Alpert Jim Biechler Marcus Braybrooke Ellen T. Charry Leobard D'Souza David Efroymson Gabriele Feyler Stefan Feyler Eugene Fisher Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer Krystina Gorniak-Kocikowska Yitz Greenberg Wan-Li Ho Sanaullah Kirmani Reinhard Kirste Hans Küng Lihua Liu Jack Malinowski Patricia Martinez Sergio Mazza Alan Mittleman Ronald Modras Paul Mojzes Malcolm Nazareth Angelika Quade Ida Raming Virginia Kaib Ratigan John Sahadat Simone Schaupp Ingrid Shafer Shu-hsien Liu Thomas Thompson Catherine Berry Stidsen
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Patricia Martinez As a foreign student from Malaysia, it was difficult and lonely during my first few weeks at Temple University. Len and Arlene Swidler invited me out to the Philly opera on the second Saturday after I arrived to start on a Ph.D. in the Fall of 1995. I've never liked opera music, but I was so lonely and so enchanted with the beautiful Opera House building - both inside and out, after the grimness of North Philly - that I had a very good time! Although my intellectual curiosity kept track of his significant contributions, I did not work with Len as I decided to focus on Islam and Women's Studies. He nevertheless kept inviting me to seminars, talks, even including me in events that took place outside Temple University, and that is the measure of his generosity. I have evolved as a scholar coming from a context which is particularly complex, as a non-Muslim in a Muslim nation, so I have not always been able to understand or agree with his perspectives as I have the urgency of the imperatives of issues, of local contexts. And I have always been unafraid to speak my mind even in disagreement! So I welcome this opportunity to add perspective to our engagements: to tell Len that his work is important and respected; that I appreciate his untiring efforts to make this world a little better, and that I wish him and Arlene the very best. Patricia A. Martinez, Ph.D.
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