Raniyah Chishti ’25 was awarded the Student Leader of the Year award by the National Assn. for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Life in Higher Education at its annual conference from Feb. 4-6 at the University of Southern California. The chaplains of the Fish Interfaith Center at Chapman University are members of this organization and were allowed to nominate one student.
Chishti’s leadership within Chapman’s Fish Interfaith Center and the university’s Muslim Student Assn., along with her dedication to compassionate action and interfaith cooperation, has earned her national recognition as a leader in higher education. As president of the Interfaith Council, Chishti facilitated well-attended and respectful meetings, fostering dialogue among diverse religious and spiritual groups on campus.
Her initiatives included a food management program she established with Sodexo Food Services and Shaykh Jibreel Speight, Chapman’s Muslim life director. The program enabled students to utilize their dining plans to receive pre-dawn and sunset halal meals during Ramadan. Chishti helped plan four community Iftars during Ramadan that brought Chapman’s Muslim students, faculty and staff together with non-Muslims.
In addition to her leadership roles, Chishti is a junior majoring in applied human physiology with minors in interdisciplinary honors and psychology. She is also training to receive her emergency medical technicians license and has provided medical assistance at numerous campus events.
