HFC alumnus creates legacy for Middle Eastern students attending EMU

HFC alumnus Maitham Khanafer – who recently graduated from Eastern Michigan University, earning his bachelor’s degree in dietetics – confessed that he initially struggled to assimilate when he first transferred to EMU.

“During my time at HFC in Dearborn, where a large Arab population resides, I was around many people like me -- people who speak the same language and share the same culture and traditions,” explained Khanafer, who recently accepted a position as a clinical dietitian in an acute care setting at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which he will begin in July.

He continued: “Coming to EMU and being exposed to people coming from diverse backgrounds was a challenge, and it forced me to challenge my biases.”

One way of doing that was becoming a campus tour guide.

“It helped me meet people on campus, helped me get out of my bubble, become confident in my English-speaking skills, and helped me adapt to the lifestyle here in the United States,” he said. “It also helped me interact with students from different backgrounds.”

Co-founder and president of the Arab Society at EMU

Khanafer and fellow EMU alumnus Ahmad Zalt co-founded the Arab Society in September 2022 in an effort to assimilate to the EMU campus and provide a haven for fellow Middle Eastern students. This is the first organization of its kind at EMU. Khanafer, who served as the president, said the Arab Society gained more than 1,000 followers on social media and hosted several events in its first year alone.

“We saw that we had a growing Arabic population on campus and noticed that other universities have a representative voice for their Arabic population that we didn't have at EMU. We wanted to change that,” said Khanafer. “We tried to be creative on our social media, and we created some fun Arab-themed videos that gave us good reach. One of our dialect challenge videos reached 300,000 views! We were also very active on campus since the start, which helped us get known very quickly among the EMU community.”

One highlight of Khanafer’s presidency is hosting the first on-campus EMU-affiliated Ramadan Iftar dinner with E Dining.

"Our events averaged 50-150 attendees coming from all sorts of backgrounds,” he said.

Establishing scholarship for Middle Eastern students

For the past several years, EMU administrators have made efforts to recruit students with Middle Eastern backgrounds, especially because EMU is located within an hour of Dearborn, which has the largest Middle Eastern population in the U.S. Khanafer’s involvement with the Arab Society has also increased those efforts and visibility on EMU’s behalf. He has been involved in the establishment of a scholarship for students of Middle Eastern descent at EMU. He worked closely with EMU Foundation Director of Development for International Relations Dr. Connie Ruhl-Smith to create this scholarship.

“It started by first reaching out to Dr. Ruhl-Smith after noticing that there were not many scholarships in the U.S. targeted toward students from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region,” explained Khanafer. “She welcomed this idea, and we formed a small team that included two other students. We are now in the last stages, and we hope that the scholarship will be offered this fall to students from the MENA region who will become ambassadors to their own region, helping recruit other Arabic students to EMU.”

Khanafer is proud of the legacy he has created for EMU.

“I hope that what we created with the Arab Society at EMU inspires other Arabic students to enroll here and strive to achieve their goals,” he said. “I hope that we showed them that coming to EMU as an international student not only provides an excellent education, but also a platform to explore our ambitions and turn our ideas into reality. I believe that The Arab Society is a strong example of that. We already have a sizable Arab student population that is tightly connected, which I think will help attract more students.”

HFC prepared Khanafer for academic success at EMU

Khanafer’s late grandfather’s health troubles set him on his career path.

“My grandfather struggled with diabetes, which led to kidney problems in his final years. His diet contributed to his problems, and he struggled to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This experience opened my eyes to how someone’s diet is a major factor for living a healthy lifestyle. That is what sparked my interest in nutrition,” said Khanafer.

Born and raised in Kuwait, Khanafer immigrated to the U.S. when he was 18. He holds dual citizenship in Lebanon and the U.S. He began his undergraduate career at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, OH before transferring to HFC.

At HFC, he was a member of the Henry Ford II Honors Program. He also worked as a chemistry tutor and biology student assistant. He took general education courses and science courses at HFC before transferring to EMU in 2020.

“EMU’s dietetics program is largely hands-on. By the time I graduate, I will have fulfilled the 1,200 hours of training required to take the national registration exam and become a registered dietitian. That was one of the main reasons I chose to go to EMU,” he said.

Khanafer’s success at HFC was instrumental in his success at EMU. He gave a shout-out to HFC biology instructor Dr. Gregory Karapetian, HFC chemistry instructor Dr. D. Todd Whitaker, and retired HFC chemistry instructor Dr. Laura Yeakel, all of whom had a positive influence on him.

“I attribute much of my strong academic scientific knowledge that helped me excel in the Dietetics Program at EMU to my HFC professors,” he said. “Dr. Karapetian taught anatomy and physiology. His guidance at that time has been helpful to this day. Dr. Whitaker and Dr. Yeakel's chemistry courses were very challenging but have helped me excel greatly. Not to mention the Honors Program that expanded my horizons and put me outside my comfort zone.”