Alma Sheykhani’s father didn’t want to expose her to Islam.For more than 17 years, Hasen Sheykhani served as a journalist in Iran before speaking out against its government and being put behind bars.

The father had to flee the country in 1984 because of the dangers presented to him just five years after a revolution that led to a new theocratic government ruled by Islamic leaders, Alma Sheykhani said.

“Growing up, I heard him say ‘Islam is garbage,’ he had a bias, ‘Islam destroyed my life,’ ” she said.

Despite being “Americanized,” she couldn’t stay away from her heritage ?” Islamic and Middle Eastern culture. “My own interests sparked,” Sheykhani said.

Last December, she became one of the first graduates with a minor in Middle East and Islamic studies ?” a new Sacramento State program.

Sheykhani will begin to pursue her doctorate in history with a concentration in Middle Eastern and Iranian studies at UC Irvine in the fall, also a new program at Irvine.

“I think the classes are very important,” she said. “After Sept. 11, a lot of Americans were interested in learning about Islam, because of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

With the misconceptions that some Americans might have about Islamic culture, Sheykhani said the classes are a good way to clarify such assumptions.

“Some people think that all of us are a bunch of terrorists,” so these courses teach you otherwise, she said.

The courses also help students understand a very complicated Iranian political system, she said.

Co-director of the program at Sac State, Afshin Marashi, an assistant professor of history, said a couple dozen students have enrolled for the minor program.

Erin Stiles, assistant professor from the Humanities and Religion Department, is also a co-director.

“They are very enthusiastic,” Marashi said about the students involved.

Some students have a general interest in the studies or want to make a career out of it like Sheykhani, Marashi said.

“The program was initiated and came from the students,” said Marashi, who specializes in modern Middle East and Iranian nationalism. He said UC Davis has a similar minor program, but Sac State’s is a little more extensive because it offers language courses.

Marla Iyasere, dean for the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Bakersfield said Islam is an important and emerging topic that has potential to sweep across the CSU system with new programs.

“And Islam studies would be a sustained issue; it’s (something) major and significant that students want to study,” Iyasere said.

New programs are developed mostly by faculty who listen to the needs of the students and who try to design programs based on where the world is headed, Iyasere said.

“It’s a very contemporary issue, and it would be very wise for every campus to know about emerging and important religions,” Iyasere said.

She said Bakersfield is in the early discussion stages of implementing an Islamic minor program.

Marashi said these issues are important pieces to world politics.

“It’s amazing how little Americans know about Islam and the Middle East; it’s important to learn about this part of the world, one that we are increasingly getting involved with,” Marashi said.

Gamaliel Ortiz can be reached at [email protected]