Qualifications
2014 Ph.D. Heritage Studies. Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA.
Dissertation title: “The Impacts of Heritage Tourism on Gadara, Northern Jordan.”
2013 MA Heritage Studies. Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA.
2003 MA Physical Anthropology. Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.
1998 BA Sociology. Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.
Research Interests
My recent doctoral work in Heritage Studies focused on the connections between tourism and heritage at the heritage site of Gadara in northwest Jordan. I analyzed the sociocultural, economic, and environmental impacts of tourism on the local community, the government’s and tourism companies’ heritage interpretation and promotion, laws and policies related to tourism and heritage sites, cultural resource management issues, and heritage management issues. I developed potential next steps and solutions to current problems regarding tourism development and heritage sites. I also examined how these issues relate to local and national identity as well as the built and natural environments. In an interdisciplinary program like Heritage Studies, students are free to focus on any aspect related to Heritage Studies. In my case, I focused on Tourism and Cultural Resource Management. So it is within the body of my work that you will find my qualifications. My future research interests are: tourism, heritage, identity, local attitudes toward heritage and tourism, tourism costs and consequences, the portrayal of heritage in the tourism industry, and heritage interpretation.
Publications
El-Najjar, Mahmoud, and Ammar Alobiedat. “Skeletal Biology and Pathology at Ya’amun from the 1999 Season.” In Ya’mun: An Anthropological Site in Northern Jordan, edited by Mahmoud El-Najjar, 209-216. Irbid: Yarmouk University, 2011.
Alobiedat, Ammar. “Two Cases of Cribra Orbitalia at Ya’amun: A Late Roman/Byzantine Site in Northern Jordan.” Journal of Paleopathology 18, no. 3 (2006): 135-142.
Alobiedat, Ammar, Mahmoud El-Najjar, Abdel Halim Al-Shiyab, and Nizar Turshan. “Jordan During the Late Roman/Early Byzantine Period: A Bioarchaeological Study.” Mu’tah Lil-Buhuth Wad-Dirasat 21, no. 6 (2006): 9-28.
Grants & Awards
2014 College of Humanities and Social Sciences Honors Day Award, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA, 2014 (two total awards given).
2012 Middle East Studies Grant, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA, 2012-2013, $7,500.
2010-2014 Doctoral Assistantship, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA.
Teaching Experience
Arkansas State University:
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Yarmouk University:
Introduction to Anthropology
Human Osteology
Advanced Human Osteology
Human Evolution
Burial Patterns
Field Excavation
Field Experience
2012
Ethnographer and Participant Observer. Arkansas State University. Supervisor: Dr. Erik Gilbert. Site: Gadara, Northwest Jordan. Duties: observed tourist, local, and other human interactions at the heritage site of Gadara, interviewed locals, tourists, and officials in connection with Gadara, and performed in-depth ethnography of the built environment at the site.
2006
Physical Anthropologist. University of Jordan. Supervisor: Dr. Maysoon Al-Nahar. Site: Tell Abu Es-Sawwan, Jerash, Jordan. Duties: analysis of human and faunal remains.
2005
Teaching Assistant. Supervisors: Dr. Jerome C. Rose (University of Arkansas) and Dr. Mahmoud El-Najjar (Yarmouk University). Site: Ya’amun, Northern Jordan. Duties: in charge of field equipment, advised University of Arkansas graduate students, supervised Yarmouk University Anthropology undergraduate students, and supervised workers. Responsible for in-tomb excavation strategies, artifact collection, and laboratory analysis of human and faunal remains.
2002 Excavation Supervisor. Supervisor: Mohammad Hatamlih. Site: Biddyeh, Ajlun, Jordan. Duties: supervised the Yarmouk University Archaeology undergraduate students.
2001
Teaching Assistant. Supervisors: Dr. Jerome C. Rose (University of Arkansas) and Dr. Mahmoud El-Najjar (Yarmouk University). Site: Ya’amun, Northern Jordan. Duties: in charge of field equipment, advised University of Arkansas graduate students, supervised Yarmouk University anthropology undergraduate students, and supervised workers. Responsible for in-tomb excavation strategies, artifact collection, and laboratory analysis of human and faunal remains.
Departmental/University Service
Dean’s Advisory Committee representing Department of Heritage Studies, 2013-2014.
Languages
Arabic: native reader, writer, speaker.
English: fluent reader, writer, speaker.
Employment
Research Assistant. Supervisor: Dr. Erik Gilbert and Dr. Clyde Milner. Arkansas State University, Department of Heritage Studies. State University, Arkansas, 72467.
August 2010-May 2014.
Teaching Assistant. Supervisor: Dr. Janelle Collins. Arkansas State University, Department of English and Philosophy. State University, Arkansas, 72467. Duties: Instructor of Cultural Anthropology.
August 2013- December 2013.
Research Assistant. Supervisor: Dr. Juliet Morrow. Arkansas Archaeological Survey at Arkansas State University Museum, State University, Arkansas, 72467.
May 2011- December 2011.
Palletizer. George’s, Inc. 402 West Robinson Avenue, Springdale, Arkansas, 72764. Duties: Scanning and shipping product.
February 2008- November 2009.
Maintenance. Supervisors: Linda Barnett and Kevin Kellams. Sleep Inn and Fairfield Inn, 728 Millsap Road, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 72703. Duties: general hotel maintenance.
June 2007- February 2009.
Teaching Assistant. Supervisors: Dr. Abdel Halim Al-Shiyab and Dr. Abdel Hakim Al-Husban. Yarmouk University, Department of Anthropology, Irbid, Jordan. Duties: instruction of courses and substitution for full or assistant professor. Courses instructed: Introduction to Anthropology, Human Osteology, Comparative Osteology, Zooarchaeology, Burial Customs, and Human Evolution. Labs instructed: Bone Analysis Lab and Dental Anthropology Lab.
August 2003- June 2007.
Manager. Owner/supervisor AbdelKarim Alobiedat. Obiedat Shop for Furniture and Curtains, Al-Hashemi Street, Irbid, Jordan. Duties: sales, accounting, and inventory management.
June 1998-August 2003.
