CENTER MEMBERS

Membership in the Center is open to all UNC students, faculty, and staff. To become a member of the Center, e-mail mideast@unc.edu.

Faculty and Administrators

Name	Department	Area of Specialization
Shahla Adel	Asian Studies	Persian and Iranian Studies
Sahar Amer	Asian Studies	Arabic, European Orientalism
Martine Antle	Romance Languages and Literature	Twentieth-century French studies, Franco-Arabic relations, African Francophone literature
Glaire Anderson	Art History	Early and medieval Islamic art/ al-Andalus
Lorraine Aragon	Anthropology	Indonesia
Yaakov Ariel	Religious Studies	Judaism
Farida Badr	Asian Studies	Arabic language and culture
Navin Bapat	Political Science	Terrorism and international relations
Ronald Bergquist	Information and Library Science	Library science
Emily Burrill	Women's Studies	Gender and imperialism, women and the law in modern Africa and the Middle East; marriage practices in Mali
John Caldwell	Hindi-Urdu	Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Hindi-Urdu
Peter Coclanis	International Affairs	South/Southeast Asia
Michael Corrado	Law School	Comparative law
Lidewijde de Jong	Classics	Early Islamic archaeology of the Near East, particularly Syria and Lebanon
Ibrahim Duqum	Prosthodontics Department, School of Dentistry	Didactic, pre-clinical and clinical Fixed, Removable, and Implant Prosthodontics
Doria El Kerdany	Asian Studies	Arabic language, culture, film, and music
Mohamed Abou El Seoud	Daivs Library	Middle East Librarian
Bart Ehrman	Religious Studies	New Testament; early Christianity
Geni Eng	Public Health	HIV/AIDS prevention
Carl Ernst	Religious Studies	Middle East and South Asia
Raymond B. Farrow	Kenan-Flagler School of Business
Tim Flood	Kenan-Flagler School of Business	Presentation skills, business writing, global communication, and American culture and business practices
Pika Ghosh	Art History	South Asian art and architecture
Banu Gökariksel	Geography	Turkey, Indonesia
Mustafa Gültekin	Kenan-Flagler School of Business	Turkey
Joseph Haj	Playmakers Repertory Theater	Theater, Palestine
Adel Hanna	Environmental Program	Climate change
Nasser Isleem	Asian Studies	Arabic
Fatimah Jackson	Institute of African American Research	Anthropology
Charles Joukhadar	Asian Studies	Arabic language and culture
Zahra Kamarei	Asian Studies	Persian
Charles Kurzman	Sociology	Iran and Islamic movements
David Lambert	Religious Studies	Hebrew Bible
David Leith	Environmental Sciences and Engineering	Environment (air); occupational health; technology
Jacqueline MacDonald	Gillings School of Global Public Health	Environment (general); environment (soil); environment (water)
Sela Mager	Asian Studies	Hebrew
Jodi Magness	Religious Studies	Middle East archaeology
Tim Marr	American Studies	U.S. Orientalism
Winifred F. Metz	Library	Film and media
Mabel Miguel	Kenan-Flager School of Business	Turkey
Don Nonini	Anthropology	Malaysia
Julius Nyang'Oro	African Afro-American Studies	East Africa
Leena Nylander-French	Environmental Sciences and Engineering	Occupational Health
Anthony Oberschall	Sociology	Ethnic conflict in Israel/Palestine, Bosnia
Jim Peacock	Anthropology	Southeast Asia
John Pickles	Geography	Bulgaria-Turkey
Zlatko Plese	Religious Studies	Gnosticism, monasticism, early Christianity, Coptic studies
Shelli Plesser	Asian Studies	Hebrew
Barry Popkin	Gillings School of Global Public Health	Obesity economics and epidemiology
Howard Reisner	Pathology
Andrew Reynolds	Political Science	State-building in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan
John Rutledge	Library	European and Middle Eastern collections development
Omid Safi	Religious Studies	Islam, Iran, Turkey, Middle East
Kenneth Sams	Classics	Near Eastern archaeology
Mamarame Seck	African & Afro-American Studies	Wolof language and literature, Sufism
Bereket Selassie	African & Afro-American Studies	North-East Africa
Yaron Shemer	Asian Studies	Arab and Israeli film studies, Hebrew language
Sarah Shields	History	Middle East
Jill Shires	Library	Music
Beverly A. Sizemore	Director of International Programs, Law School	Anthropology
Sara H. Smith	Geography	Political and social geography, nationalism, health, South Asia
David Steffen	Gillings School of Global Public Health	Distance education, ethics, public health practice and systems, healthcare quality improvement, workforce development
Niklaus Steiner	Center for Global Initiatives	Refugees
Barbara Stenross	Academic Advising	Sufism
Jacob Stromberg	Religious Studies	Hebrew Bible
Afroz Taj	Asian Studies	Hindi-Urdu language and literature
Nilay Tanik Argon	Statistics and Operations Research	Design and control of queuing systems with applications to manufacturing and healthcare
John Van Aalst	Pediatric and Craniofacial Plastic Surgery	Pediatric plastic surgery; craniofacial surgery; cleft lip and palate
Dorothy Verkerk	Art History	Morocco
William Vizuete	Gillings School of Global Public Health	Air quality, atmospheric chemistry, air quality modeling
Ellen Welch	Romance Languages	Early modern Mediterranean studies and French-Arabic relations
Dale Whittington	Environment Sciences and Engineering	Middle East water resources
Nadia Yaqub	Asian Studies	Arabic
Karin Yeatts	Gillings School of Global Public Health	Epidemiology
Serhan Ziya	Statistics and Operations Research	Pricing and inventory control, pricing for service systems, revenue management and service operations; optimal control of queuing systems, health operations
Cangüzel Zülfikar	Asian Studies	Turkish and history of the Ottomans and Turkey
Fahir Zülfikar	Disbursement Services	Islamic business ethics

Students

Name	Department	Area of Specialization
Yousuf Al-Bulushi	Geography (Graduate Student)	Political Economy, Urban Geography, Social Theory, Globalization and Development, Southern and Central Africa
Isabella Archer	Romance Languages/Franco-Arab Studies (Graduate Student)	Franco-Arab studies, North Africa, Orientalism, art
Leila Armstrong	Art History (Graduate Student)	Medieval North African urbanism
Rose Aslan	Religious Studies (Graduate Student)	Islamic studies
Margo Balboni	Peace, War, and Defense (Undergraduate)	Arabic; French
Hala Borno	School of Medicine (Graduate Student)	Primary care and public health
Laurel Bradley	Anthropology (Graduate Student)	Israel
Christine Carpino	Political Science (Graduate Student)	dissident organizations, Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah/PLO
Besir Ceka	Political Science (Graduate Student)	Democratization, political competition and participation, corruption
Nadia Dawisha	Communication Studies (Graduate Student)	Transnational Middle Eastern feminist studies
Murat Es	Geography (Graduate Student)	Middle East and Europe
Kathleen Foody	Religious Studies (Graduate Student)	Islam
Brandon Gorman	Sociology (Graduate Student)	Political sociology, democracy, and gender
Gary Guadagnolo	History (Graduate Student)	Islam in Russia and Central Asia
Aseem Hasnain	Sociology (Graduate Student)	South Asia, Islam, interfaith interactions
Matthew Hotham	Religious Studies (Graduate Student)	Islam
Rolien Hoyng	Communication (Graduate Student)	Information technologies in Turkey
Atiya Husain	Sociology (Graduate Student)	Social movements, culture, Islam and race
Brannon Ingram	Religious Studies (Graduate Student)	Islam
Mohammad Ali Kadivar	Sociology (Graduate Student)	Middle East, Iran, Islam and Islamic reformist movements
Gazi Kara	Economics (Graduate Student)	Institutional change and economic growth in Turkey
Marwa Yusuf Koheji	Folklore (Graduate Student)	Middle East Folklore
Anna Levett	Comparative Literature (Graduate Student)	20th century Mediterranean literature, especially Turkish
G. A. Lipton	Religious Studies (Graduate Student)	Islamic studies
Matthew Lubin	History (Graduate Student)	Ottoman history
Sherine Mahfouz	Journalism and Mass Communications (Graduate Student)	Arab media
Justin Martin	Journalism and Mass Communications (Graduate Student)	Media in Jordan
Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst	Religious Studies (Graduate Student)	Islam in South Asia
Aman Nadhiri	English (Graduate Student)	Islam
Ijlal Naqvi	Sociology (Graduate Student)	Iran/Pakistan
Arta Osmanaj	City and Regional Planning (Graduate Student)	Economic & international development
Linda Quiquivix	Geography (Graduate Student)	Power, maps, Palestine
Rachana Rao	Anthropology (Graduate Student)	South Asian Islam
Michael Rulon	Comparative Literature (Graduate Student)	Francophone and Arabic literature
Christopher Scanzoni	Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies (Undergraduate)
Natalia Suit	Anthropology (Graduate Student)	Qur'an as a physical object in Egypt
Nathan W. Swanson	Geography (Graduate Student)	Middle East, law, human rights
Tehseen Thaver	Religious Studies (Graduate Student)	Islamic studies
Sarah Thomsen Vierra	History (Graduate Student)	History of Germany's Turkish Community
David Uthlaut	Sociology (Graduate Student)	Insurgency and counterinsurgency in the Middle East
Elena Yehia	Anthropology (Graduate Student)	Social movements in Lebanon and Mexico
Bahar Yolac	Art History (Graduate Student)	18th century Ottoman female patronage in art