Recently I made a start on "The Twelve Wild Swans", which Starhawk co-wrote with Hilary Valentine. In the intro they talk about their intention to "model shared power" - instead of a single leader, teacher, or author, the authority is shared by two or more. I wonder if this could possibly be useful for your presentation: see if there's a Muslimah who'd be interested in being your co-presenter.

As for your grumpy prof, his grumpiness is his problem, not yours. But if Mr. Super-Critical grudgingly gave you an A, the paper must've been pretty cracking even with bits missing. :)