- Ph.D., Philological Sciences, Institute of Linguistics, Almaty, Kazakhstan, 1992
- M.A., Russian Language and Literature, Ivanovo State University, Russia, 1987
Gulnisa Nazarova
John D. Soper Teaching Professor, Central Eurasian Studies
John D. Soper Teaching Professor, Central Eurasian Studies
Gulnisa Nazarova is an ethnic Uyghur who was born in Kyrgyzstan, grew up and graduated from high school in Uzbekistan, obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Russia, and received her PhD in Kazakhstan; however, she considers Xinjiang (The Uyghur Autonomous Region in China) her homeland since both of her parents were born in that region and moved to Soviet Central Asia in the 1960s. Gulnisa Nazarova was invited to teach intensive Uyghur at Indiana University in 2005 for the IU Summer Language Workshop. Due to the success of that course, the Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS) invited her to continue teaching the Uyghur language during the academic year, in addition to employing her as a curriculum materials developer at the Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR). Besides teaching the Introductory, Intermediate, and Advanced levels of Uyghur, she occasionally teaches a cultural course entitled “Central Asia: Cultures and Customs” as a part of the CEUS Department's expanding undergraduate curriculum.
In 2015 Gulnisa Nazarova received the Trustees Teaching Award in the At-Large NTT Faculty competition.