After months of waiting eagerly, one Arabic professor finally received some good news.

Ghinwa Alameen, lecturer in world languages and cultures and an immigrant from Syria, lost her ability to work in the United States in September because of work permit issues. She applied for a renewal in February and heard nothing for about eight months, when the process is usually only two to three months.

Alameen was notified Oct. 21 that her work visa had been approved. 

Her students and the school worked to help her return to teaching, and Iowa senators also played a key role.

“We have used all the means that we are legally allowed,” said Beate Schmittmann, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “We reached out to Sens. Grassley and Ernst, and I want to give them a big thank you for their efforts.”

University staff members are happy about Alameen’s return to Iowa State.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have her back in the classroom,” Schmittmann said. “She is a wonderful instructor. She is also clearly beloved by her students. That became abundantly clear these last few weeks.”

Alameen is also glad to be returning, she said.

“I am very thankful for all the help and support I received from my students, university officials and colleagues and our senators, especially the office of Sen. Ernst,” Alameen said.

Alameen also said Ernst’s office did more serious investigation and follow-up in her case.

Schmittmann said international students and staff can have issues with immigration and believes that this type of problem cannot always be avoided.

As an immigrant herself, Schmittmann said there are many complex rules with reissuing visas, such as specific windows of time that are allowed to take submissions.

“[Alameen] did all the right things,” Schmittmann said. “This is really nobody’s fault, certainly not her fault.”

Alameen and university staff are not the only ones feeling anxious for her return. Students are also excitedly awaiting her arrival back to campus.

“I’m totally overjoyed to have her back at ISU,” said Emily Bannantine, sophomore in political science and one of Alameen’s students. “For a while there it was starting to look pretty hopeless, so when [I heard] the news that the papers went through for her work visa, I could hardly believe it.”

Peter Benzoni, senior in computer engineering, agrees with Bannantine.

“Everyone is thrilled to have professor Alameen back, both in our activities and in the classroom,” Benzoni said. “We truly appreciate and wish to thank the students, professors, community members, media, members of Congress and the administration.”

Benzoni said his “deepest gratitude” goes to Ailin, “who had the courage and perseverance to step up and teach us in Alameen’s absence. She’s really the unspoken hero of this story.”

Although it has been only about a month since Alameen left Iowa State, she has been making the most of her time.

“This period of absence has allowed me more time to work on creating instructional materials and new ideas,” Alameen said. “I am so excited to go back and work with my students on them.”

Bannantine agreed that Alameen had been working with her students to get them back up to speed as soon as she learned she would be returning to Iowa State.

“She has already emailed me about tutoring sessions starting up again and trying to get the students caught up to where they need to be,” Bannantine said. “It’s not going to be easy, but she seems determined to make up for the lost time.”

She also has future plans to increase her students’ learning experiences.

“I plan on continuing teaching the program and building it,” Alameen said. “I also have a conference in Denver over Thanksgiving break presenting a paper on teaching Arabic 101.”

Alameen returned to her teaching position Monday, taking on all of her classes that she taught at the beginning of this semester.