Towfic Shomar
Arab, 47, Philosopher of Science from London School of Economics (LSE), PhD, Head of the Department of Human and Social, Head of Department of Development Studies - Philadelphia University- Jordan. Research Associate-CPNSS-LSE.
| Headline: | Educator |
| Work status: | Employed Full-Time |
| Industries: | Education |
| Groups: | Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) |
| Interested in: | Brainstorming, Helping members of my groups, Meeting new people, Mentoring, Offering Expertise, Patenting my idea, Professional opportunities, Sharing my projects |
WORK EXPERIENCE
| Employer: | Al-Arab Newspaper, Qatar |
| Position: | Article writer |
| Time period: | January 2007 - Present |
| Description: | Article writer with Al-Arab Newspaper, Qatar, writing an article a week on scientific knowledge. |
| Employer: | University of Philadelphia |
| Position: | Head of the Department of Humanities |
| Time period: | January 2004 - Present |
| Employer: | Committees |
| Position: | Member |
| Time period: | January 2002 - Present |
| Description: | 2002-present Steering committee of the Faculty of Arts Conferences: 7th-13th.
2003-present Distant Learning Committee, Philadelphia University. 2005-2007 Quality Assurance Committee, Philadelphia University. 2004 Scientific Research Committee at Philadelphia University. 2002 National Committee for Civic Education, Al-Hussein Centre. |
| Employer: | University of Philadelphia |
| Position: | Assistant Professor |
| Time period: | January 2001 - Present |
| Description: | Courses include: Civilisation 1 and 2, Scientific Methods, Contemporary Issues, Thinking Skills, Science and Society and History of Science. |
| Employer: | London School of Economics, Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Science |
| Position: | Research Associate |
| Time period: | January 2000 - Present |
| Description: | Responsibility: to effectively contribute to the research in the Centre. |
| Employer: | Various |
| Position: | Administrative Experience |
| Time period: | January 1993 - Present |
| Description: | 2005-2008 Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts, Philadelphia University
2004-present Head of the Department of Humanities, Philadelphia University 2002-present Member of the Steering committee of the Faculty of Arts Conferences: 7th-13th. 2002-present Member of the deanship council of Faculty of Distance Learning at the University. 1994-1996 Head of the research team in the project of "Modelling in Physics and Economics" Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, LSE. 1996 Organiser of the Philosophy of Physics Undergraduate Conference, 20/1/1996, Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, LSE. 1995 Organiser of the ‘Workshop on Particularism’, 19/5/1995, Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences, LSE. 1993-1997 Organiser of the Philosophy of Physics Weekly Seminars at LSE. 1994-1996 Head of the research team of the project “Modelling in Physics and Economics”. |
| Employer: | Arabic newspapers |
| Position: | Freelance writer and Editor |
| Time period: | January 1988 - Present |
| Description: | Freelance writer and Editor, articles for several Arabic newspapers, including Alghad, Al-Hayat, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Al-Sha'ab, Al-Muftah and Al-Musafer, Afkar. |
| Employer: | AVSI, the Association of Volunteers in International Service, Jordan |
| Position: | Work experience |
| Time period: | January 2008 - December 2008 |
| Description: | Developing a manual on ICT-for-disability teaching skills and conducting the relevant training course, (two months). |
| Employer: | Sartt, The Jordanian Centre for Knowledge Management, Jordan |
| Position: | Work experience |
| Time period: | January 2008 - December 2008 |
| Description: | Developing a manual on Civil Society and Political Developments in Jordan, (two months). |
| Employer: | AVSI, the Association of Volunteers in International Service, Jordan |
| Position: | Work experience |
| Time period: | January 2007 - December 2007 |
| Description: | Developing a manual on KAP-Surveys and conducting the relevant training course, (two months). |
| Employer: | Petra Aluminium Company, Jordan |
| Position: | Work experience |
| Time period: | January 2007 - December 2007 |
| Description: | Conducting a KAP-Survey and developing a training manual on Work Environment for their leaders. |
| Employer: | UNDP, Capacity 2015 Office the Arab Region |
| Position: | Work experience |
| Time period: | January 2006 - December 2006 |
| Description: | UNDP, Capacity 2015 Office the Arab Region , developing a Monitoring and Evaluation manual. UNDP, Capacity 2015 Office the Arab Region , Implementing the UNDP- Philadelphia agreement to teach MDGs to student within the Contemporary Issues course. |
| Employer: | UNIFEM |
| Position: | Consultant |
| Time period: | January 2006 - December 2006 |
| Description: | Preparing manuals built on thinking skills for students and fresh graduates on Life Skills, and conducting the relevant TOT course. |
| Employer: | University of Philadelphia |
| Position: | Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts |
| Time period: | January 2005 - December 2008 |
| Employer: | Al-ghad Newspaper |
| Position: | Article writer |
| Time period: | January 2005 - December 2007 |
| Description: | Article writer with Al-ghad Newspaper, writing two articles a week on thoughts and cultural issues. |
| Employer: | UNRWA |
| Position: | Consultant |
| Time period: | January 2005 - December 2005 |
| Description: | Preparing manuals built on thinking skills for the staff on Monitoring and Evaluation, and conducting the relevant training course. |
| Employer: | New York Institute for Technology, Amman Campus |
| Position: | Lecturer |
| Time period: | January 2003 - December 2003 |
| Description: | Lecturer, one course, Introduction to Philosophy, summer term 2003. |
| Employer: | UNIFEM |
| Position: | Consultant |
| Time period: | January 2003 - December 2003 |
| Description: | Preparing manuals built on thinking and communication skills as part of the project: “Empowering Women in Tourism Sector” (July – September). Also preparing the trainers of trainees manual, and conducting the training of trainers. (15th September – 2nd October). |
| Employer: | The Ahliyyah School for Girls |
| Position: | Consultant |
| Time period: | January 2000 - December 2005 |
| Description: | Responsibilities: developing the School’s educational philosophy and policy, implementing the IB Diploma Programme, changing the School to an E-school, writing the school yearly plan, strategic planning, preparing and implementing the in-school training (on weekly bases and a two weeks training every year) and contribute toward changing the school to an e-learning institute. |
| Employer: | University of Philadelphia |
| Position: | Lecturer |
| Time period: | January 2000 - December 2001 |
| Description: | Civilisation 1 and 2, Scientific Methods, Contemporary Issues and History of Science. |
| Employer: | The Modern Montessori School |
| Position: | Consultant |
| Time period: | January 1999 - December 1999 |
| Description: | Responsibilities: developing the School’s educational philosophy and policy, implementing the IB programme and teaching “Theory of Knowledge”. |
| Employer: | Highbury House Communications, The Publishing House |
| Position: | Freelance, Arabic Editor |
| Time period: | January 1996 - December 1998 |
| Description: | The House publishes bank journals such as Al-Muftah (of the American – Saudi Bank). Part of my responsibility was to look at the financial market indicators in the Gulf and give an overall assessment of the trends in share values over a period of three months (the journal was a quarterly one). |
| Employer: | London School of Economics, Department of Philosophy Logic and Scientific Method |
| Position: | Teacher of Logic |
| Time period: | January 1995 - December 1997 |
| Employer: | London School of Economics, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method |
| Position: | Research assistant to Dr Colin Howson on his book Logic by Trees |
| Time period: | January 1995 - December 1995 |
| Employer: | London School of Economics, Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Science |
| Position: | Research Fellow |
| Time period: | January 1994 - December 2000 |
| Description: | During which I headed the “Modelling in Physics and Economics” project, worked on preparing the proposal that was submitted by the Centre to the European Union on the “Precautionary Principle” (in 1996), drafting the annual report on the Centre’s activities. Moreover, I was a research assistant for Prof. Nancy Cartwright in her work on her book “The Dappled World” (was published in 1999). I also helped in preparing the proposal on “Cultural Sensitive Tourism” and taking care of the invitations and preparations regarding the Centre visitors. |
| Employer: | London School of Economics, Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Science |
| Position: | Head of the research team on the project “Modelling in Physics and Economics” |
| Time period: | January 1994 - December 1996 |
| Description: | I was in charge of distributing work, setting meetings, drafting the annual report, organising seminars and setting the budget. The team consisted of five professors and 13 researchers. |
| Employer: | London School of Economics, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method |
| Position: | In charge of The Philosophy of Physics Seminar series |
| Time period: | January 1993 - December 1997 |
| Description: | Responsibilities: preparing the invitations, preparing the seminar’s schedule and organising the invited speakers’ travel and accommodation in London. |
| Employer: | London School of Economics, Language Centre |
| Position: | Teacher of Arabic as a foreign language |
| Time period: | January 1993 - December 1996 |
| Employer: | London School of Economics, Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Science |
| Position: | Researcher on the project “Modelling in Physics and Economics” |
| Time period: | January 1993 - December 1993 |
| Employer: | University of Exeter, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies |
| Position: | Research assistant to Prof. Aziz Al-Azmeh on the project “Democracy in the Arab World” |
| Time period: | January 1992 - December 1992 |
| Employer: | De la Salle College, Amman |
| Position: | Teacher of science and physics |
| Time period: | January 1990 - December 1992 |
| Employer: | Al-Nomow College, Amman |
| Position: | Teacher of mathematics and physics |
| Time period: | January 1989 - December 1990 |
| Employer: | Latin de College, Amman |
| Position: | Teacher of math and physics |
| Time period: | January 1986 - December 1989 |
| Employer: | The Jordanian Army, Amman |
| Position: | Compulsory Military Service |
| Time period: | January 1984 - December 1986 |
PUBLICATIONS
| Articles: | 2009 “The Correspondence Principle”, in Neil Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of Research Design, Saga, submitted Sep. 2008.
2008 “Theory of Evaluation in Al-Maqtataf”, University of Damascus Journal for Arts and Humanities, accepted for publication June 2008. 2008 “Phenomenologism vs. fundamentalism: The case of superconductivity”, Current Science, 94(10) 25 May 2008. 2006 “Theory of Social Development”, In Readings in Human Thoughts and Civilization, Saleh Abu-Osba ET. Al. (Eds.), 2nd Edition, Dar Albarakeh, Amman 2006, pp 47-62. 2006 “Modelling in Applied Physics: the Case of Polymers”, Dirasat Pure Sciences, 33(2) August 2006. 2003 “Developments in Democratic Discourse and its Reflection on Arab Thought”, (in Arabic) In the Proceedings of The 7th Annual Conference of the Faculty of Arts, The Arabs and the West, Ghassan Abd Alkhaliq et al (ed.), Philadelphia University, Amman, Jordan. (Refereed Publication) 2002 “For a Cross-Cultural Human Civilisation”, (in Arabic) Journal of Research in Humanities, Nasser International University, Tripoli, Libya. (Refereed Journal) 2001 “Structural Realism and the Correspondence Principle”, The proceedings of The Conference on Mulla Sadra and World's Contemporary Philosophy, Mulla Sudra Institute, Iran. 2000 “Anti-reductionist realism in a pluralistic world”, (in Arabic) The Arab Philosophical Journal, Beirut, Lebanon. (Refereed Journal) 2000 “Realism with a New Face”, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran. (Refereed journal) 1999 “Bohr and his Debate with Einstein”, Proceedings of World Congress on Mulla Sadra, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. (Refereed conference publication) 1998 “Is Fundamentalism Essential to Count a Discipline as a Science?” (in Arabic), Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Policing and Criminology, Al-Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. (Refereed conference publication -- fifty papers were published out of 270 participated.) 1998 Book Review: In and About the World by Hans Radder, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 49(1) London, 1998. (Refereed Journal) 1995 (With Prof. Nancy Cartwright and Mauricio Suarez) “The Tool Box of Science” Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, Theories and Models in Scientific Processes, W. Herfel et al (eds), 44 (1995), Rodopi, Amsterdam. (Refereed Journal). Publications in Arabic In Newspapers: a full list can be provided upon request. (Many of which are related to Democracy and civil society). In Journals 1) “Liberty and Democracy”, Jordan Dentistry Journal, 34, October 2000, Amman, PP 77-79. 2) “Science, Technology and The Cultural”, Afkar, 162, March 2002, Amman, pp 45-48. 3) “Personal Testimony: Fahmi Gada’n”, Afkar, 172, February 2003, Amman, pp 14-15. 4) “Philosophy Between Science and Theology”, Afkar 176, June 2003. 5) “Institutions or Institutionalization”, Philadelphia Cultural Journal, Feb 2005. 6) "What is Democracy?", Aldustor Althaqafi, 7th January 2005. 7) "Understanding Civil Society", Afkar, (203), September 2005. |
| Papers: | Papers Presented at Conferences:
14/2/2008 “Theories as Obstacles", Contingencies and Descent in Science, CPNSS, LSE London, UK. 3/2008 “Alagetihad", Conference on Alagetihad and Changes , The National Library, Algiers, Algeria. 12/2006 “Toward a National Standards in Training", The League of Arab States, Cairo. 2/2005 “Modelling Polymers", Popper Seminar, CPNSS, LSE London, UK. May 2004 “Modelling in Applied Physics: the Case of Polymers ”, The Second world Conference on Mulla Sadra and World's Contemporary Philosophy, Mulla Sudra Institute, Iran. 5-8/1/2004 “Fundamentalism in Science”, Faculty of Arts Yearly Workshop, Philadelphia University, Amman. 27-29/5/2003 “Is there Science or Sciences?!”, Faculty of Arts Yearly Workshop, Philadelphia University, Amman. 14/12/2002 “Methods of obtaining Knowledge from a Western Perspective”, Amman’s Circle First Workshop, King Hussein Foundation, Amman, Jordan. (It was one of two papers submitted to the workshop, the other was on Methods of obtaining knowledge from an Islamic perspective.) 6-8/8/2002 “Developments in Democratic Discourse and its Reflection on Arab Thought”, The 7th Annual Conference of the Faculty of Arts: “The Arabs and the West”, Philadelphia University, Amman, Jordan. 23-28/7/2002 “For a Cross-Cultural Human Civilisation”, The 12th Round Table for the Arab Academes, Nasser International University, Tripoli, Libya. 24/2/2002 “Bohr as a Phenomenological Realist", Popper Seminar, CPNSS, LSE London, UK. 22/4/2001 “Postmodernism and Truth in Social Sciences", Staff Seminar, Philadelphia University, Amman, Jordan. 15-17/3/2001 “Structural Realism and the Correspondence Principle”, The Conference on Mulla Sadra and World's Contemporary Philosophy, Mulla Sudra Institute, Kish, Iran. 1-2/5/2000 “Realism with a New Face”, The International Congress in Commemoration of Allameh Mohammed Taghi Ja’fari, University of Tabriz, Tabriz – Iran. 22-25/2/2000 “Why Democracy failed in the Arab World?”, The Arab Philosophical Association’s Second Workshop on Democracy, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. 2/12/1999 “Anti-reductionist realism in a pluralistic world”, AUB Staff Seminar, the Philosophy Department, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. 23-27/5/1999 “Bohr and his Debate with Einstein”, World Congress on Mulla Sadra, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. 11-16/12/1998 “Is Fundamentalism Essential to Count a Discipline as a Science?” (in Arabic) at the International Conference of Science, Policing and Criminology, Al-Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. 21/11/1998 "Physics Between Fundamentalism and Phenomenalism", Staff Seminars, Department of Physics, University of Jordan. 13/2/1996 “A New Kind of Realism: Phenomenological Realism”, King’s College and LSE Staff Seminars, Department of Philosophy, LSE. |
| Books: | Publications of Manuals
- With Sadeq Khawaja, UN-publication, Thinking through Tourism 2004 1) Thinking Skills 2) Management 3) Tourism 4) Programmes, Tourism Guide 5) Programmes, Handcrafts 6) Programmes, Home care 7) Programmes, Camping 8) Programmes, Travel - Civil Society and Political Developments in Jordan 2008. - Teaching Disables 2008. - Teachers Training Manual 2008. - Assistive Tools for Disables 2008. - KAP – Surveys 2007 - Digital Age Life Skills for Work Environment, UNIFEM, electronic publication. 2007 - Monitoring and Evaluation for Development Projects, UNDP – 2015 capacity building office 2008. |
INFORMATION
| Memberships: | Professional Membership
1) The Arab Philosophical Association. 2) Association for Foundations of Sciences, Language and Cognition. 3) The British Society for the Philosophy of Science. 4) The Jordanian Philosophical Society (founding member). Non-Academic Activities 2000-present Member of the board of Socialism Forum, Jordan. (Holding the President Chair since 2004) 1989-1992 Member of the board of Al-Fuhies Cultural Festival. 1988-1990 Member of the board of Al-Fuhies Youth Club. 1983 Member of the board of the Physics Society at University of Jordan. |
| Awards: | 1995/1996 Lakatos Scholarship Award, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE.
1993-1995 The Student Union, LSE. 1994 The Leach Trust, London. 1990 Philosophy Department, University of Jordan, distinction, the highest mark in the Master programme over ten years. 1988 Philosophy Department, University of Jordan, distinction, the highest mark in the Diploma programme. |
