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The Latest from CoGenerate

Event Recording: Book Talk: Cogeneration in the Age of AI

Event Recording: Book Talk: Cogeneration in the Age of AI

Simple question: Do you miss human connection when you use self-checkout at the grocery store? Complex question: How is cogeneration threatened by AI, profit-driven “efficiencies,” and automation — and what can we do about it? Allison Pugh, author of the book The Last...

Putting Two Things Together

Putting Two Things Together

On Friday, May 15, I had the great honor to address the 2026 graduates of Drew University, including the undergraduate College of Liberal Arts, the Theological School, and the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. I'm very grateful to Drew's remarkable President...

Introducing the CoGen Voices Fellows

Introducing the CoGen Voices Fellows

Across the country, young people and older people are stepping up as civic leaders. But too often, they do this critical work with peers, in age-segregated spaces. Young people work without the benefit of older generations who bring lived experience, networks, and a...

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Shakeela Hassan

Harran Productions Foundation
Purpose Prize Fellow 2007

Building bridges between different faiths through theological dialogue and documentary film.

Shakeela Hassan, a University of Chicago’s Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology and Critical care has made a life long commitment to promoting peaceful coexistence and understanding among different faith communities. She is active in Chicago’s Islamic Foundation and serves as a liaison for the Muslim community to the Archdiocese of Chicago. She serves on the Boards of International Human Right’s Law Institute, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Theological Seminary, Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human rights, International Museum of Muslim Culture and Hands of Peace, an exchange program for Israeli-Palestinian youth. In 1999 at age 66, Hassan left her work and position at the University of Chicago Hospitals and turned to documentary films as catalyst for unity and interfaith understanding. Her grassroots fundraising effort for PBS Documentary: Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet made its National PBS Broadcast in 2002. She was co-executive producer of “Ties That Bind” which aired on WTTW in 2004. In partnership with noted journalist Bill Kurtis, Hassan’s Harran Productions Foundation is now producing “The Sounds of Faith”, a three-part series exploring the connections between the sacred sounds and music of Judaism, Christianity and Islam for a National PBS Broadcast. Promising to be a unique journey of “sound experiences” of the Abrahamic Faiths, the series will compel each faith constituent to act peacefully and justly with the other.