Walk a new path
Published:
Central Connecticut State University professor Ali Antar is among four Connecticut residents who were named to the Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame (IHHF) for 2025.
The IHHF honors individuals whose contributions have enriched Connecticut’s legal, education, civic, and cultural landscape. The 2025 inductees will be recognized at an induction ceremony and gala on Thursday, Sept. 25.
Antar is a professor emeritus and adjunct professor of Physics at Central. Born in Egypt, Antar moved to the United States after earning his Bachelor of Science and subsequently earned his doctorate in Atomic and Nuclear Physics from the University of Connecticut. He has been an educator for six decades and established the Antar-Fohail Middle East Academic Endowment to bring Muslim scholars to Central to give seminars on Islam and Muslims and established the first Muslim Students Association.
In his community, Antar founded and serves as co-president of the Islamic Association of Greater Hartford. He is also the co-founder of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut and past president of the Islamic Council of New England. A leader in the interfaith community, Antar also serves as a special advisor to the president of Hartford International University, and he is a founding member of We Refuse to Be Enemies in coalition with Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
The mission of the National Immigrant Heritage Center is to celebrate, preserve, and promote immigrant heritage and cultural diversity as defining characteristics of the American nation, and the contributions of immigrants and immigration to the American economy, culture, and civil society.