Recommended Professors
Students, parents and alumni have sought our advice regarding Middle East studies faculty whom we would recommend. Accordingly, our staff has compiled a list of scholars whom we consider thoughtful and balanced.
The following listing makes no claims to completeness; indeed, we invite nominations of other scholars (please send names to campus-watch@meforum.org).
Individuals listed here are done so at Campus Watch's initiative; they have neither asked to be included, nor have we asked for their authorization. Specifically, they do not necessarily endorse the Campus Watch project, nor does Campus Watch necessarily endorse all their work.
Akbar S. Ahmed
Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations
American University
Areas of Expertise: Islam, Pakistan, globalization
http://academic3.american.edu/%7Eakbar/index.htm
Fouad Ajami
Majid Khadduri Professor and Director of the Middle East Studies Program
School of Advanced International Studies
Johns Hopkins University
Areas of Expertise: Arab intellectual life, Arab-Israeli conflict, U.S. foreign policy.
http://apps.sais-jhu.edu/faculty_bios/faculty_bio1.php?ID=24
Isaac Alteras
Professor of History
Queen's College
Areas of Expertise: modern Jewish history, US-Israeli relations.
http://qcpages.qc.edu/Jewish_Studies/alteras.html
Daniel Brumberg
Associate Professor, Department of Government
Georgetown University
Areas of Expertise: democracy in the Middle East, Egypt, Iran, Algeria.
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/brumberg/
Shaul Bakhash
Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History
George Mason University
Area of Expertise: Iran.
http://www.gmu.edu/robinson/bakhash.htm
Jamsheed Choksy
Professor of Central Eurasian Studies
Professor of History
Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies
Indiana University
Areas of Expertise: Central Asia, South Asia, medieval Iran, Zoroastrianism
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/sb/page/normal/1014.html
Mark R. Cohen
Professor of Near Eastern Studies
Princeton University
Area of Expertise: Jewish history in medieval Muslim countries.
http://www.princeton.edu/~nes/faculty_cohen.html
David Cook
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Rice University
Areas of Expertise: Origins and historical development of Islam, Jihad, Islamic Mysticism
http://reli.rice.edu/faculty.cfm?doc_id=752
Michael Cook
Cleveland Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies
Princeton University
Areas of Expertise: Islamic history and religion.
http://www.princeton.edu/~nes/faculty_cook.html
Patricia Crone
Professor of Islamic History
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Areas of Expertise: Islamic history and religion.
http://ias.edu/About/faculty/crone.php
Adeed Dawisha
Professor of Political Science
Miami University of Ohio
Areas of expertise: the application of theories of democratic transitions and consolidation to the Middle East, particularly post-2003 Iraq.
http://www.users.muohio.edu/dawisha/
Marius Deeb
Adjunct Professor of Middle East Studies
Johns Hopkins University
Areas of Expertise: Islam and terrorism
http://www.sais-jhu.edu/nondegree/summer/faculty.htm
Alan Dowty
Kahanoff Chair Professor of Israel Studies
University of Calgary
Areas of Expertise: Arab-Israel conflict, Israeli politics, issues of international enforcement
http://www.poli.ucalgary.ca/Dowty.htm
Robert O. Freedman
Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professor of Political Science
Baltimore Hebrew University
Areas of Expertise: Russian foreign policy toward the Middle East, Central Asia, Arab-Israeli conflict
http://www.bhu.edu/Faculty/freedman.htm
David Fromkin
Professor of History and International Relations
Boston University
Areas of Expertise: Modern Middle East politics, International Law
http://www.bu.edu/uni/faculty/fromkin.html
Timothy Furnish
Assistant Professor of History
Georgia Perimeter College
Area of Expertise: Islamic history, Mahdism, Islamic eschatology and Islamic fundamentalism
http://www.gpc.edu/~tfurnish/
Gregory Gause
Associate Professor, Political Science Department
University of Vermont
Areas of Expertise: Arabian peninsula, Persian Gulf.
http://www.uvm.edu/~fgause/
Michael Gunter
Professor of political science
Tennessee Tech University
Areas of Expertise: Kurdish issues, Turkish politics.
http://www.tntech.edu/sociology/faculty/gunter.html
Norman Itzkowitz
Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus
Princeton University
Areas of Expertise: Ottoman History, modern Turkey.
http://www.princeton.edu/~nes/faculty_itzkowitz.html
Bruce Jentleson
Director, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy Chairman, Professor of Political Science
Duke University
Areas of Expertise: U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
http://www.pubpol.duke.edu/people/faculty/jentleson/
Efraim Karsh
Nachshon Visiting Professor of Modern Israel Studies, Harvard University
Professor and Head of the Mediterranean Studies Programme
Kings College, University of London
Areas of Expertise: modern Middle East history, Israeli politics, Iraqi politics.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/humanities/medstu/ek.html
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet
Assistant Professor History
University of Pennsylvania
Areas of Expertise: Iran, Ottoman empire
http://www.history.upenn.edu/faculty/kashani.htm
Mark Katz
Professor of Government and Politics, Department of Public and International Affairs
George Mason University
Area of Expertise: international relations of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula.
http://www.jamestown.org/authors_details.php?author_id=162
Judith A. Klinghoffer
Senior Research Associate, International Relations
Rutgers University, Camden
Area of Expertise: Israel.
http://history.rutgers.edu/graduate/ab94klin.htm
Timur Kuran
Professor of Economics and Law and King Faisal Professor of Islamic Thought and Culture
University of Southern California
Areas of Expertise: Islam and Economics, Social Mechanisms
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~kuran
Jacob Lassner
Professor of History and Religion
Philip M. & Ethel Klutznick Professor of Jewish Civilization
Northwestern University
Areas of Expertise: Medieval Near Eastern History, Jewish-Muslim relations
http://www.religion.northwestern.edu/faculty/lassner.html
Avigdor Levy
Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Brandeis University
Areas of Expertise: Arab-Israel Conflict, Ottoman empire, Jews in Muslim countries
http://www.brandeis.edu/facguide/one?unetid=110108109111115116108117
Bernard Lewis
Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Emeritus
Princeton University
Areas of Expertise: Islamic history and culture.
http://www.princeton.edu/~nes/faculty_lewis.html
James E. Lindsay
Associate Professor, Department of History
Colorado State University
Areas of Expertise: Medieval Islamic History
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Hist/fac/lindsay.html
Kanan Makiya
Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Brandeis University
Areas of Expertise: Iraqi history and politics.
http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/nejs/faculty.html#kmakiya
Fedwa Malti-Douglas
The Martha C. Kraft Professor of Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences
Professor of Gender Studies and Comparative Literature
Adjunct Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law
Indiana University, Bloomington
Areas of Expertise: Gender and feminist studies in the Arab and Islamic worlds, medieval Arabic biography
http://www.indiana.edu/~ksuchard/
Ann E. Mayer
Associate Professor of Legal Studies
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Areas of Expertise: Comparative law, Middle Eastern law, human rights law, international law, Islamic law; law and international business
http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/mayera.html
David Meir-Levy
Lecturer, History Department
San Jose State University
Areas of Expertise: Jewish studies, modern and ancient Israeli history, Arab-Israeli conflict, archaeology, Near Eastern history
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/jwss/faculty.html
Khaleel Mohammed
Professor of Islamic Studies
San Diego University
Areas of Expertise: Islamic law and religion.
http://www.fasspr.com/fsb/KhaleelMohammed.html
Yitzhak Nakash
Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Brandeis University
Areas of Expertise: Iraq, Shi'i Islam.
http://www.brandeis.edu/facguide/one?unetid=110108109111115117116110
Guity Nashat
Research Fellow
Hoover Institution
Areas of Expertise: women in the Middle East, Iran
http://www.uic.edu/depts/hist/Faculty/nashat.html
http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/bios/nashat.html
Robert Rabil
Assistant professor, director of graduate studies, Department of Political Science
Florida Atlantic University
Areas of Expertise: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, US-Arab Relations, Reform in the Arab World and Radical Islam and Terrorism
http://wise.fau.edu/divdept/lifelong/winter2006/w301.htm
Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr
Professor of Political Science
University of San Diego
Areas of Expertise: Pakistan, Islamism.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/data/indiv/area/idsas/NASR,Vali.htm
Daniel C. Peterson
Professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic
Brigham Young University
Areas of Expertise: Medieval Islamic Philosophy, Arabic Language and Literature
http://asiane.byu.edu/arabic/people/peterson.htm
Walid Phares
Associate Professor of Political Science and Comparative Politics
Florida Atlantic University
Areas of Expertise: Lebanon, Middle Eastern minorities, Sudan.
http://www.fau.edu/divdept/schmidt/judaic/Phares.html
Bernard Reich
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs
George Washington University
Areas of Expertise: Middle Eastern politics, terrorism, U.S.-Israel relations, Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel and, oil politics
http://www.gwu.edu/~elliott/facultystaff/reich_b.cfm
Jalil Roshandel
Associate Professor, Director of Security Studies
Department of Political Science
East Carolina University
Areas of Expertise: International Relations, Security Studies, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Comparative Politics, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Persian Gulf
http://www.ecu.edu/polsci/faculty/roshandel.html
James R. Russell
Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies
Harvard University
Areas of Expertise: Armenia, Iran, Zoroastrianism, comparative mythology, linguistics
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~nelc/faculty/russell.htm
Franck Salameh
Department of Slavic & Eastern Languages
Boston College
Area of Expertise: Literary Arabic, History of Middle East Linguistics.
http://fmwww.bc.edu/SL/SL.html
Philip Carl Salzman
Professor of Anthropology
McGill University
Areas of Expertise: Iran, India
http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/anthro/faculty/salzman.htm
Saliba Sarsar
Professor of Political Science and Associate Vice President for Academic Program Initiatives
Monmouth University
Areas of Expertise: Arab-Israeli conflict, democratization
http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu/~ssarsar/
Michael Schub
Lecturer of Arabic
Trinity College
Area of Expertise: Literary Arabic.
http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/mdlg/Arabic/arabic.html
Haim Shaked
Director, Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies
University of Miami
Areas of Expertise: Arab-Israeli conflict, Sudan
http://www.miami.edu/miller-center/pages/faculty.html
Kemal Silay
Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies Professor
Indiana University, Bloomington
Area of Expertise: Turkey
http://php.indiana.edu/~ksilay/
Alain Silvera
Professor Emeritus of History
Bryn Mawr College
Areas of Expertise: Egypt, France
http://www.brynmawr.edu/find/emeriti.shtml
S. Rob Sobhani
Adjunct Professor in the Government Department and the School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
Areas of Expertise: Iran
http://www1.georgetown.edu/explore/courses/index.cfm?Action=View&CourseID=GOVT-417
Steven L. Spiegel
Professor of Political Science
UCLA
Areas of Expertise: Arab-Israeli conflict, Middle Eastern political economics
http://www.isop.ucla.edu/cnes/about/person.asp?Facultystaff_ID=112
Kenneth Stein
William E. Schatten Professor of of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Political Science and Israeli Studies
Emory University
Areas of Expertise: Israel, Arab-Israeli conflict.
http://www.emory.edu/HISTORY/faculty/stein.html
Norman Stillman
Professor and Schusterman/Josey Chair in Judaic History
University of Oklahoma
Areas of Expertise: medieval and modern Jewish and Islamic History
http://www.ou.edu/cas/history/faculty_bio_stillman.html
John W. Swails
Professor of History
Areas of Expertise: Egypt
http://www.ec.edu/MeetingAt/SwailsCenter/About/000838.asp
Raymond Tanter
Visiting Professor
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service
Areas of Expertise: Arab-Israeli Conflict, Iran, terrorism, proliferation
http://www1.georgetown.edu/explore/experts/index.cfm?Action=View&NetID=rt54
Selwyn K. Troen
Karl, Harry and Helen Stoll Professor of Israel Studies
Brandeis University
Areas of Expertise: modern Israel
http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/nejs/faculty.html#Anchor-29721
Abraham Udovitch
Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East
Princeton University
Areas of Expertise: Medieval Islam, Middle Eastern economic history
http://www.princeton.edu/~nes/faculty_udovitch.html
Harold (Hal) Waller
Professor of Political Science
McGill University
Areas of Expertise: U.S. budgetary process as a focal point of the struggle over public policy, American politics, research methods, Jewish political studies, Israeli politics.
http://www.mcgill.ca/politicalscience/faculty/waller/
William E. Watson
Professor of History
Immaculata College
Areas of Expertise: France and Algeria.
http://www.immaculata.edu/Academics/departments/history/faculty.htm
Quintan Wiktorowicz
Assistant Professor of International Studies
Rhodes College
Areas of Expertise: Jordan, Islamism.
http://www.rhodes.edu/public/2_0-Academics/2_1_4-InternationalStudies/2_1_4_3-Faculty/2_1_4_3_1_8-Wiktorowicz.shtml
Birol Yesilada
Professor of Political Science and International Studies
Contemporary Turkish Studies Endowed Chair
Portland State University
Areas of Expertise: Turkish politics, International political economy, European Union
http://web.pdx.edu/~yesilada/
Marvin Zonis
Professor
Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, emeritus
Areas of Expertise: Middle Eastern political economics
http://www.marvinzonis.com
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