BLUFFTON, Ohio—Julia Shearson, executive director of the Cleveland Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Ohio, will address “Being Muslim in Post 9/11 America” at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Bluffton University’s Founders Hall. Her presentation is free and open to the public.

Shearson will discuss her conversion from Catholicism to Islam and the challenging national climate faced by American Muslims.

She has been executive director of CAIR-Ohio’s Cleveland chapter for seven years. There, she has worked on civil rights advocacy, educational outreach and media relations. She has also initiated projects to improve communication and build partnerships between law enforcement and the Muslim community.

Shearson serves on the Islamic Council of Ohio and is a member of the steering committee of We Believe Ohio, a statewide group of interfaith clergy and laity dedicated to social justice. She is also a board member of the Al-Ihsan School—the only full-time Islamic school in Cleveland—and co-chair of the Battered Immigrant Women Subcommittee of the Cuyahoga County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council.

She holds master’s degrees in linguistics from Ohio University and in Middle East studies from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s degree in East Asian languages and cultures from Columbia University.