WKU Student Dies In Tennessee Traffic Accident

October 08, 2009

Bowling Green, Ky. - Farhat Hamidullah, a Western Kentucky University junior from Franklin, Tenn., was killed in a traffic accident Wednesday near Kingsport, Tenn.
           
Hamidullah died when the car in which she was riding crashed on Interstate 81in western Greene County at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. She died at the scene. Her body was to be transported to her family in Virginia.
The driver, Victoria Ciorba, a WKU sophomore international student from Moldova, suffered minor injuries.
           
Tarek Elshayeb, director of International Student and Scholar Services at WKU, said Hamidullah and her family escaped civil war in Afghanistan and immigrated to the United States. At WKU , she worked at the ISSS Office “and we were impressed with her dedication and commitment to help and support international students,” Elshayeb said.
           
Hamidullah was also a member of the WKU ambassadors’ organization the Spirit Masters and active with the International Club, Habitat for Humanity and Invisible Children. She was a WKU Student Government Association Scholar, a World Topper Scholar and the recipient of scholarships from the College Heights Foundation and WKU Student Support Services.
           
“She was a model of an active and successful student for all WKU students,” Elshayeb said. “Today, we lost a friend, a sister and a daughter to many people on campus and to ISSS staff in particular. Farhat will be greatly missed, always remembered, and may she rest in peace and help her family and all of us in this difficult time.”
           
A campus memorial service will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the Guthrie Bell Tower.

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