Sabina holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Spanish from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and a Master of Science with an emphasis in Educational Leadership from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. She is certified in lean methodology and trained in Disney Institute Perfect Service Principles. Currently, she provides leadership and oversight of strategic communications to empower and engage Humana’s community of nearly ten thousand nurses and social services professionals. She employs creative strategies to drive nurse connections to the nursing community of practice, the organization, and each other. This promotes a culture that engages, values, and inspires clinical professionals while impacting the health outcomes of the people and communities they serve. Sabina is a proud Bosniak-American and fluently speaks her native Bosnian language and Spanish. She resides in North East Wisconsin.

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is a professor and author who grew up in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. After surviving genocide, she emigrated to the US in 1996. By December 1999, she earned a BA in Economics from Brown University. Later, she obtained two Masters degrees and a PhD from Columbia University. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her scholarship focuses on mechanisms that drive societies towards social disintegration and the role of education in rebuilding decimated countries.

Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess is an interdisciplinary scholar who has researched, published, and taught globally on education’s links to social transformations, radicalization, corruption, elite formation, violence, and anti-Muslim racism. In 2021, she was a keynote speaker at the National Council of Urban Education Associations’ conference presenting on how educators can prevent student radicalization. In 2019, she delivered the inaugural Charo Uceda Lecture at TC on “How to Empower and ‘Un-Other’ Yourself?” Her Al Jazeera and EdWeek op-eds examine the stark parallels between the white supremacy movement in the US and anti-Muslim hate that led to the Bosnian Genocide.

Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess’ work aims to amplify protective factors against radicalization, biased speech, and biased behaviors in schools and workplaces. In early 2021, she piloted a professional training program for U.S. educators to overcome intolerance and counter extremism. More recently, she won a $750,o00 innovation grant from the Department of Homeland Security’s Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program to launch a multi-module professional training program for educators to help prevent and interrupt radicalization in U.S. schools. She has worked as the expert on behalf of the U.S. State Department, foreign governments, and other global organizations.

Her memoir, The Cat I Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival (Bloomsbury 2020) is used by educators to build non-violent problem solving skills, moral resilience, and social connectedness. In 2021, The Cat I Never Named won a finalist medal from the American Library Association for Excellence in Nonfiction. Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess’ book was selected as a remarkable literary work for teens for 2020 by Capitol Choices and has won the Outstanding Merit and Best Book of 2021 award by Bank Street College of Education. It was a finalist for Cybils Award for best YA nonfiction in 2020. The Cat I Never Named has earned seven starred reviews and has been named a Best Book of 2020 by Kirkus, Mighty Girl, and Malala Fund. Most recently, The Cat I Never Named was nominated for the Amazing Audio Book of 2022 by the American Library Association. The President of the United States, Joseph Biden, has personally called Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess’ work “inspirational” as a timely warning against othering, radicalization, and hate.

In her students’ feedback, Professor Sabic-El-Rayess is consistently praised as one of the most inspiring professors they have encountered. She was recently featured by BBC, CBS-NY , PIX11, and ABC Action News.