Heba Abd El Salam
Heba Abd El Salam
Language, Literature & Digital Humanities Librarian
Librarian II
Research and Information Services
Contact
170 Ellis Library
Education
- Master of Science in Library Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Expected August 2025)
- Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Expected May 2025)
- Ph.D. in Public History, Middle Tennessee State University, May 2018, Dissertation: Preserving Cultural Heritage in Minya, Egypt
- Graduate-level courses in GIS, Western Kentucky University, 2013
- MA in Anthropology, University of Central Florida, 2011, Thesis: The Use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Examine Spatial Questions Linked to Mortuary Practices in the Dakhla Oasis, Egypt
- Bachelor of Religious Archaeology, College of Archaeology, Cairo University, Egypt, 2003
About Me
Heba Abd El Salam serves as the Languages, Literatures, and Digital Humanities Librarian. Her work combines librarianship, public history, and anthropology, focusing on cultural heritage, migration, and community-engaged scholarship. She is deeply committed to public service and education, which informs her approach to research support, teaching, outreach, and digital humanities initiatives.
Heba began her library career as a graduate assistant at the Undergraduate Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her degree from the School of Library and Information Science along with a graduate certificate in Digital Humanities. During her graduate studies, she led an outreach project that connected immigrant communities with the history, art, and culture of North Carolina and directed a multilingual digital exhibition showcasing the history of the Triangle area.
Before pursuing a career in library science, Heba earned a PhD in Public History from Middle Tennessee State University and a Master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Central Florida. She has led cultural heritage preservation projects in Egypt and has experience as a program advisor at the American Research Center in Egypt, as well as a cultural heritage consultant at the American School of Overseas Research. Her focus has been on outreach, research, and cultural heritage preservation. Additionally, Heba’s professional training includes internships at the British Museum in London and the Center for Cultural Heritage at Heidelberg University in Germany. She also served as a Teaching Fellow at Duke University.
Now at Mizzou Libraries, Heba supports teaching, research, and digital scholarship in the fields of languages, literatures, and cultural studies. Her professional interests include migration studies, multilingual and community-engaged digital projects, digital exhibitions, and the preservation and interpretation of cultural memory, a Teaching Fellowship.
Grants, Contracts, and Projects
- PI, Carolina Humanity large grant, “Celebrating Diversity: Combatting Refugee IsolationThrough Cross-Cultural Storytelling,” 2024-2026 (50K)
- Pi, interpretation program for the community, Mallawi Museum Minya, Egypt (November 2016) (20k)
- International Cultural Heritage Internship Grant – Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) Award Amount: $20,000 Received MTSU grant to complete internship and training programs at the British Museum (UK) and the Center for Cultural Heritage, Heidelberg University (Germany). Training focused on museum collections, cultural heritage preservation, and public history research.
Publications
- Abd El-Salam, Heba, and Brian Sturm. “The Impact of One Thousand and One Nights on Modern Egyption Life: Cultural Narratives of Violence Against Women.”
Manuscript submitted to Violence Against Women. (2026) - Abd Elsalam, Heba. (2020) “Public History in Egypt: The Power of Public History in Protecting Cultural Heritage in Egypt,” Journal of International Public History.
- Abd el Salam, Heba. Dawn McCormack and Brenden Martin. (2017) “Connecting People with their Museum.” Journal of Museum Education 42.4
Conference Presentations
- Heba Abd Elsalam, (April 12-14, 2019) New Approaches for Egyptology Education: Storytelling through Living History. Presented at the American Research Center, 71 annual meetings, Alexandria, VA
- Heba Abd Elsalam, (May 6-9, 2018) The Use of Museum Education Activities to Preserve Cultural Heritage Case study, Minya, Egypt. Presenting at the 2018 Annual Meeting & Museum Expo in Phoenix, AZ.
- Heba Abd Elsalam (April 11-15, 2018) Implementing Interpretative Methods for Better Preservation of a Cultural Heritage Site. Presenting at Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting in Washington, DC
- Heba Abd Elsalam., (January 3-4, 2018). Approaches for Protecting Cultural Heritage Sites: Mallawi Museum Case Study. Presenting at Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting Boston, MA
- Heba Abd Elsalam., (September 5–8, 2017). Providing New Methods for Curators to Link the Communities with their Museums Mallawi Museum. Presenting at International Committee for Egyptology, Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL
- Heba Abd Elsalam., (July 28-30,2017). Engaging Mallawi’s Communities with their Museum. Presenting at Workshop for Hermopolis Magna German project at Roemer-und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim, Germany
- Heba Abd Elsalam., (April 21-23, 2017). Implementing Public History Methods in Egyptology: Case Study at Mallawi Museum in Minya. Presenting at American Research Center, 68 annual meetings, Kansas City, MI
- Heba Abd Elsalam., (March 31- 2 April 2017). Using Living History for a Better Understanding of Ancient Egyptian History: Case Study at the Mallawi Museum Minya Egypt. Presenting at SEALHFAM, Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN
- Heba Abd Elsalam., (March 2017) The results of outreach project Mallawi Museum, Minya, Egypt. Presenting at Middle Tennessee State University Scholar’s Week presentation and demonstration, Murfreesboro, TN
- Heba Abd Elsalam., Walid Alghareb., Amr Khalaf Shahat, (July 3-9, 2016) Participatory Advocacy for Protecting Endangered Cultural Heritage Sites in Sinai, Egypt. Presenting at the International Council of Museums, Annual meeting, Milano, Italy
- Heba Abd Elsalam., (March 2015) The Daily Life of Ancient Egypt. Presenting at Middle Tennessee State University Scholar’s Week presentation and demonstration, Murfreesboro, TN
- Abd Elsalam, H. (April 18-21, 2018). The Positive Results of the Use of Public History in the Middle East: Minya, Egypt. 2018 NCPH Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Abd Elsalam, H. (July 3-9, 2017) The Use of Public History to Preserve Cultural Heritage in Minya, Egypt. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of The International Federation for Public History, Ravenna, Italy
- El Salam, H. & Alghareb, W.& Shahat, A. (April 15-17, 2016) Southwest Sinai: Participatory Advocacy for the Endangered Sites of Wadi-Maggara, El-Maktab, and Serabit El-Khadim. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA
Professional Associations
- American Library Association (ALA) – Member
- American Alliance of Museums (AAM) – Member
- National Council on Public History (NCPH) – Member