DEBRA L. DIRKS was raised in the Mennonite Church, converted to Islam in 1993, received her sessions program certificate in Islamic studies from Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in 1998, and completed the ‘Umrah and Hajj in 1999.  She has variously managed an Arabian horse farm, served as a substitute teacher in a private Islamic school, and worked as an office manager.  She is the author or co-author of one article in the behavioral sciences and over 140 published articles on the Arabian horse and its history.  She is also the co-editor of Islam Our Choice—Portraits of Modern American Muslim Women, a book for which she wrote two chapters and which is in its second printing.  Mrs. Dirks has lectured about Islam at mosques, universities, and conventions in Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Virginia.

            Mrs. Dirks is available for lectures on a variety of topics.  Her special interests include women’s issues, raising Muslim youth in America, and being both an American and a Muslim.