She received the Social Sciences Division Distinguished Teaching Award in 1983 and the General Education Teaching Award in 2001. She has conducted archival and library research in many cities of the former Soviet Union, has traveled extensively through the Russian republic and Central Asia, and specializes in the study of the Muslims of the Russian empire, the Soviet Union and its successor states. Her research focuses on the study of identity issues with a special emphasis on the place of religion and ethnicity in identity construction.