Faculty & Research
Core Faculty
Dena Afrasiabi
Lecturer
dena.afrasiabi@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-3196 |
CAL 528G
Education: Ph.D. in Persian Studies, University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Second Language Acquisition, Teaching Persian as a Second Language
Ahmad Agbaria
Lecturer
ahmad.agbaria@austin.utexas.edu |
CAL 504
Education: Ph.D, 2018, The University of Texas at Austin
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Kamran Scot Aghaie (on leave Spring 2020)
Associate Professor
kamranaghaie@austin.utexas.edu |
475-6400 |
CAL 528E
Education: Ph.D., 1999, University of California at Los Angeles
Interests: Islamic studies, Shi'ism, modern Iranian and Middle Eastern history; secondary areas of interest: world history, historiography, religious studies, nationalism, gender studies and economic history
Olla Al-Shalchi
Lecturer and Arabic Program Coordinator
olla@austin.utexas.edu |
512-475-6644 |
CAL 508
Education: PhD, Instructional Design and Technology, Old Dominion University
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Samy Ayoub
Assistant Professor
sayoub@austin.utexas.edu |
CAL 407
Education: Ph.D., University of Arizona
Interests: Islamic Law, Islamic Legal Theory, Islamic Ethics, Islam and Politics, Comparative Middle Eastern Law, Islamic Commercial Law, Late Ottoman Empire, Modern Egypt
Hina Azam
Associate Professor, Islamic Studies
hina.azam@austin.utexas.edu |
512-475-8393 (no voicemail) |
CAL 506
Education: Ph.D., 2007, Duke University, Department of Religion
Interests: Islamic law, ethics, theology, exegesis, hadith studies; Women/gender/sexuality in Islam; comparative religions of the Middle East; pedagogy and the teaching of Islamic Studies at the college level
Sarah Baker
Lecturer
slbaker@utexas.edu |
CAL 417
Education: PhD, 2018, The University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Biblical Hebrew, Language Pedagogy, Linguistics, Comparative Semitics
Reema Barakat
Lecturer
reemabarakat@utexas.edu |
CAL 404
Education: M.A., 2015, The University of Texas at Austin
Kristen Brustad
(on leave)
Associate Professor
brustad@austin.utexas.edu |
471-9189 (no voicemail) |
CAL 417
Education: Ph.D., 1991, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard
Interests: My research interests include, but are not limited to: Arabic dialects, syntax, language ideology and Arabic literary and linguistic history
Karen Grumberg
Center Director, Associate Professor
Education: Ph.D.- 2004, University of California- Los Angeles
Interests: Comparative Literature and modern Hebrew literature
Michael Craig Hillmann
Professor
mchillmann@aol.com |
512-475-6606 |
CAL 400
Education: Ph.D.; M.A., The University of Chicago, 1974; Texas State University at San Marcos, 1997
Interests: Persian language; Persian literature, 1921-1978; medieval Persian poetry; Iranian art and culture; autobiography; the nature of lyric poetry
Ghada Housen
Lecturer
ghadamohamad@utexas.edu |
512-777-8994 |
CAL 416
Education: Master of Arts in Arabic Language Teaching, Damascus University
Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant Professor
jonathan.kaplan@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-9453 |
Calhoun (CAL) 413
Education: Ph.D. 2010, Harvard University
Interests: Hebrew Bible (with specific interest in Song of Songs, Daniel, and Jonah), Second Temple Judaism, Dead Sea Scrolls, Rabbinic Judaism, Midrash, Literary Theory, History of Biblical Interpretation, Utopian Studies
Mikiya Koyagi
Assistant Professor
mikiya.koyagi@austin.utexas.edu |
CAL 406
Education: PhD, History, 2015, The University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Modern Iranian history; infrastructure; pan-Asianism; intra-Asian connections
Cheng-Wei Lin
Lecturer and Co-Director of Arabic Flagship Program
cw.lin@austin.utexas.edu |
CAL 501B
Education: Ph.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Interests: Arabic Second Language Acquisition, Corpus Linguistics, Phonology, Computer-Assisted Curriculum Design and Pedagogy
Mohammad Mohammad
Associate Professor
mamohammad@austin.utexas.edu |
512-475-6650 (no voicemail) |
CAL 415
Education: Ph.D., University of Southern California
Interests: Linguistics and the Arabic language
Stephennie Mulder
Associate Professor
smulder@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-5851 |
DFA 2.516
Education: Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Interests: Islamic Art and Architecture
Jeannette Okur
Assistant Professor of Instruction, Turkish Program Coordinator
jeannette.okur@austin.utexas.edu |
512 471 1280 |
CAL 509
Education: Ph.D., Ankara University, 2007
Interests: Modern Turkish/Turkic literature, film and cultural studies, teaching culture and literature in the foreign language classroom, comparative literature, translation studies
Na'ama Pat-El
Chair, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Associate Professor
npatel@austin.utexas.edu |
512-232-8292 |
CAL 501C
Education: Ph.D., 2008, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (Semitic Philology), Harvard University
Interests: Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Syntax, Languages in Contact, Linguistic Methodology
Esther Raizen
Associate Professor; Senior Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
raizen@austin.utexas.edu |
GEB 3.212
Education: Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Modern and classical Hebrew language, linguistics and literature; Teaching Hebrew as a foreign language; Jewish history and culture, Holocaust studies; Computer-assisted instruction and computational linguistics, assistive technology; Education administration; Student development; Women and war
Anousha Shahsavari
Lecturer and Persian Program Coordinator
anousha@austin.utexas.edu |
512 232 8276 |
CAL 500
Education: M.A. Second Language Acquisition and Application, University of Maryland 2009
Interests: Instructed Second Language Acquisition, Curriculum and Instructional Materials Development, Language Pedagogy, Persian Literature and Culture
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Faegheh Shirazi
Professor
fshirazi@austin.utexas.edu |
232-9416 |
CAL 502
Education: PhD, Ohio State University
Interests: Textiles and Clothing, particularly the Islamic veil (hijab), issues of women, rituals, and rites of passage as they relate to material culture in popular Islamic societies.
Bruce Wells
Associate Professor
bruce.wells@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-3463 |
CAL 414
Education: PhD, Near Eastern Studies, 2003, Johns Hopkins University
Interests: Historical and cultural contexts of the Hebrew Bible; pentateuchal studies; biblical law; priestly literature; economic, administrative, and legal systems of ancient Israel and Mesopotamia; marriage, sex, and family relations in the ancient world; religion and law
Affiliated Faculty
Ari Adut
Assistant Professor
ariadut@austin.utexas.edu |
232-4284 |
BUR 468
Education: Ph.D., University of Chicago
Interests: Political Sociology, Theory, Crime, Law, and Deviance
Kamran Asdar Ali
Associate Professor
asdar@austin.utexas.edu |
471-7531, 471-3550 |
EPS 1.116
Education: PhD, Johns Hopkins University
Interests: Gender, Health, Development, Labor History, Political Economy; Post-Colonialism;
Germine Awad
Associate Professor
gawad@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-0526 |
SZB 506H
Education: Ph.D., 2005, Psychology, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale
Interests: Attitude development expression: prejudice and discrimination, ethnic and racial identity, acculturation, immigration, and attitudes toward affirmative action beneficiaries.
Zoltan Barany
Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor, Department of Government
barany@austin.utexas.edu |
512.232.7231 |
BAT 3.156
Education: Ph.D., University of Virginia
Benjamin Claude Brower
Associate Professor
benbrower@utexas.edu |
512-475-6813 |
GAR 3.204
Education: Ph.D., 2005, Cornell University
Interests: Writing Violence in History, French Empire: The "West" and "Islam"
Jason Brownlee
Professor
brownlee@austin.utexas.edu |
512-232-7304 |
BAT 3.146
Education: Ph.D., Princeton University
Interests: Domestic and international processes of political emancipation
Mounira M. Charrad
Associate Professor
charrad@utexas.edu |
232-6311 |
CLA 3.526
Education: Ph.D., Harvard University
Interests: Gender & Women's Rights; Political Sociology; Social Theory; Colonialism; Comparative-Historical Sociology; Globalization; Middle East and North Africa, Gender and women's rights, political sociology, development, comparative historical methodology, and the Middle East and North Africa
Rasha Diab
Assistant Professor
rashadiab@austin.utexas.edu |
471-3280 |
Parlin 03
Education: Ph.D., Composition and Rhetoric, 2009, University of Wisconsin-Madison
David Eaton
Professor
eaton@austin.utexas.edu |
512.471.8972 |
SRH 3.204
Education: PhD, Johns Hopkins University
Interests: evaluation of energy and water conservation programs, joint management by Palestinians and Israelis of shared groundwater,new methods for evaluating and preventing air pollution emissions
Kate Gillespie
Associate Professor
kate.gillespie@mccombs.utexas.edu |
512.471.5438 |
CBA 7.258
Education: PhD, London Business School
Interests: International Business
Hossein Haghshenas
Senior Lecturer
mehdiha@austin.utexas.edu |
232-8064 |
BUR 539
Education: Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
Geraldine Heng
Associate Professor
heng@austin.utexas.edu |
471-7480 |
PAR 213
Education: Ph.D., Cornell University
Interests: iterary, cultural, and social encounters between worlds, and webs of exchange and negotiation between communities and cultures: gender, race, sexuality, and religion
S. Akbar Hyder
Associate Professor
syedakbarhyder@gmail.com |
475-6031 |
WCH 4.134
Education: PhD, Harvard University
Interests: Islam in South Asia, Urdu language and literature, Aesthetics in South Asian and the Middle East
Wm. Roger Louis
Professor
britishstudies@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-9274 |
HRC 3.202
Education: DPhil and DLitt, Oxford University
Interests: The British Empire/Commonwealth and the history, literature, and politics of nineteenth and twentieth-century Britain
Sofian Merabet
Associate Professor of Anthropology
sofian.merabet@austin.utexas.edu |
(512) 471-0057 |
SAC 5.156
Education: Ph.D., Columbia University
Interests: Socio-Cultural Theory/Urban Studies/Gender Studies/Queer Theory/Muslim World, Europe, and South America
Gail Minault
Professor
gminault@austin.utexas.edu |
512-475-7214 |
GAR 3.118
Education: PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Interests: 19th and 20th century history of India, including religion and politics, intellectual and social history, and women's movements
A. Azfar Moin
Associate Professor
amoin@utexas.edu |
512 232-7224 |
BUR 518
Education: PhD, University of Michigan
Interests: Sufism and Sainthood in Islam | Sacred Kingship | History of Early Modern Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia
William R Nethercut
Professor
nethercut@austin.utexas.edu |
471-3839 |
WAG 123
Education: Ph.D., Columbia University
Interests: Greek and Roman Literature, Egyptology
Mary Neuburger
Professor
burgerm@austin.utexas.edu |
512-232-4124 |
BUR 452
Education: Ph.D., 1997, University of Washington
Interests: Modern eastern Europe with a specialization in southeastern Europe. Urban culture, consumption, commodity exchange, gender and nationalism
Martha G. Newman
Associate Professor in the Departments of History and Religious Studies
newman@austin.utexas.edu |
512-475-8660 |
GAR 3.408
Education: Ph.D., 1988, Stanford University
Interests: Monastic miracle collections and monastic attitudes toward women and the poor
Thomas G Palaima
Professor: Robert M. Armstrong Centennial Professor and Director, Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory (PASP)
tpalaima@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-5742 or 512-471-8837 |
WAG 14AA WAG 123B
Education: Ph.D. 1980, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Interests: Aegean scripts & prehistory, Greek language, war & violence studies, public intellectual writing, music as social criticism, Dylanology
Athanasio Papalexandrou
Associate Professor
papalex@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-5021 |
ART 3.404
Education: Ph.D., Princeton University
Interests: Early Greek Visual Culture, Interconnections between Greece & Near East, Art & Archaeology of Cyprus, Greek Sanctuaries. Art as a Means ofCommunication in Preliterate Societies
Sonia Seeman
Associate Professor
stseeman@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-2854 |
MBE 3.204
Education: Ph.D., UCLA
Interests: Middle Eastern music & expressive culture; Roma ("Gypsy") & minority communities; former Ottoman territories of Southeastern Europe,cosmopolitanism; nationalism; gender
Denise A. Spellberg
Professor of History and Middle Eastern Studies
spellberg@austin.utexas.edu |
512-475-7202 |
GAR 3.208
Education: Ph.D., 1989, Columbia University
Interests: intellectual history of the medieval Islamic world, from Spain to Iran; Islam in American and European history; gender and religion in history
Jeremi Suri
Professor; Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs
suri@austin.utexas.edu |
512-475-7242 |
GAR 2.122/ SRH 3.378
Education: Ph.D. in History, 2001, Yale University
Interests: The formation and spread of nation-states; the emergence of modern international relations; the connections between foreign policy and domestic politics; the rise of knowledge institutions as global actors.
Cynthia Talbot
Professor
ctalbot@austin.utexas.edu |
475-7229 |
GAR 3.406
Education: PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Interests: Social and cultural history of medieval and early modern India (ca. 1000-1750); historiography and historical memories, Hindu-Muslim relations.
L. Michael White
Professor, Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins
lmwhite@utexas.edu |
512-232-1438 |
BUR 502-12
Education: Ph.D., Yale University
Interests: Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean & Middle East, New Testament and Christian Origins, Graeco-Roman Religions
Karin Wilkins
Professor, Radio-Television-Film
karin.wilkins@austin.utexas.edu |
512-471-2007 |
CMA 5.114
Education: PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Interests: Development and international communication, media and social change.
Emeritus
Mahmoud Al-Batal
Professor Emeritus
Education: Ph.D. - 1985, Michigan - Ann Arbor
Interests: Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language
Aaron Bar-Adon
Professor Emeritus
Education: Ph.D., Hebrew University
Interests: Sociolinguistics and language acquisition; Hebrew and Arabic language, literature, and linguistics
Mohammad Ghanoonparvar
Professor Emeritus
Education: PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Interests: 20th century Persian literature; comparative literary history and criticism; methodology and practice of literary translation
John Huehnergard
Professor Emeritus
Education: Ph.D. 1979, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (Semitic Philology), Harvard University
Interests: Semitic languages and linguistics, historical linguistics, writing systems, and ancient Near Eastern history
Harold Liebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Education: Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Interests: Archaeology & art history of Israel in the Biblical & Greco-Roman periods; art & archaeology of the Ancient Near East, daily life in Ancient Israel; material culture & literature (Mishnah & Talmud)
Ian Manners
Professor Emeritus
Education: Ph.D., Oxford University
Interests: Conservation and resource management, urban cultural geography, and historical cartography
Abraham Marcus
Professor Emeritus
Education: Ph.D., 1979, Columbia University
Interests: Social and cultural history of the early modern and modern Middle East; cities and urban life; Islamic law and legal practice; music and society
James A. Neely
Professor Emeritus
neelyja@utexas.edu |
512-471-7529 |
EPS 1.102
Education: Ph.D., University of Arizona
Interests: Prehistoric & early historic cultural development & culture change; processes of plant & animal domestication; development of urban life; ancient technology, Mexico, Iran
Abraham Zilkha
Professor Emeritus
Education: Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
Interests: Hebrew linguistics, lexicography, Israel and the Middle East
