A Dearborn Nonprofit Honors a First-Generation Premed Student for Leadership — and a Jordanian American Scholar Backs It With a Scholarship

DEARBORN, Mich. — Arab Women United (AWU), a Dearborn-based nonprofit focused on empowering Arab women, has named Nour Hassan, a Palestinian American premed senior at Wayne State University, as the recipient of its 2026 Women in Leadership Excellence Award. The award, an AWU initiative, recognizes a woman who demonstrates leadership, educational and professional excellence, community involvement, and a commitment to empowering other women. AWU President Duaa Alhalemi said the goal is to highlight women making meaningful contributions to their communities and give them recognition and support to keep doing that work. Hassan, a first-generation college student, is finishing her senior year at Wayne State while working toward medical school. She already holds an associate degree in liberal arts and science — a milestone she described as both personally significant and a driver of her continued education. Her interest in medicine, she said, grows out of a desire to combine a love of learning with helping others, reinforced by experience volunteering in hospital settings. Beyond the classroom, Hassan has built a record of community service: she has volunteered with Gleaners Community Food Bank preparing and distributing meals for Detroit-area families, supported refugee families adjusting to life in a new country, and worked with the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCFR) through events and fundraising efforts. In comments shared through AWU, she framed her approach to service modestly — changing one person's situation, she said, is often enough to change their world. The recognition came with more than a title. Dr. Tareq A. Ramadan, a Jordanian American born and raised in Dearborn, donated $1,000 toward a scholarship awarded alongside the honor. Ramadan, a three-time Wayne State alumnus who earned his Ph.D. in anthropology there, has spent nearly two decades teaching at both Wayne State and Henry Ford College. He also works as a cultural competency consultant and numismatist specializing in early Islamic coins and seals. In January, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed him to the state's Commission on Middle Eastern American Affairs, where he serves in an advisory capacity connecting Arab and Chaldean communities with the governor's office. Ramadan said his decision to fund the scholarship reflected both his respect for AWU's work and a broader belief that women's contributions across civic, cultural, and economic life deserve concrete support, not just recognition. He pointed to the women who mentored him over his own career as part of what shaped that conviction, and said he hopes the gesture — even a modest one — signals to Hassan and future honorees that their work is seen and valued. AWU, which runs leadership-development programming, healing-centered initiatives, and community-building efforts aimed at Arab, immigrant, and BIPOC women, frames the award as one piece of a larger mission: creating space for women to lead without waiting for traditional institutions to make room for them first. For Hassan, who is still finishing her degree while juggling food-bank shifts and fundraising work for Palestinian causes, the recognition arrives as encouragement to keep building — both her career in medicine and the kind of community involvement she says has shaped her as much as her coursework has.