Alam Payind, Director of the Middle East Studies Center at the Ohio State University since 1986. Link to full CV.

Courses taught at OSU: Introduction to the Modern Middle East; Contemporary Issues in the Middle East; Group Studies; Cultural Continuity & the Challenge of Political, Economic, and Social Transition in the Middle East.

Other Positions Relevant to Middle East Studies: Director General, Office of Cultural and International Relations, Kabul, Afghanistan (1972 - 1973); Professor of Political Science and Associate Director of Research Institute, Kabul University (1973 - 74); Director, International Center, Indiana University (1978-80); Curriculum Coordinator and Director of International Education, Ohio Colleges Association (1980-85).

Education: Ph.D. (1977), Political Science and Higher Education, MA (1977), International Politics, M Sc. (1972), Higher Education, Indiana University; BA, Political Science & Islamic Law, Kabul University (1966).

Languages: Pashto, Persian, Urdu, Arabic.

Field Experience: Field research in collaboration with scholars from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey. Research Interests: Middle Eastern and Central Asian politics; ethnic and linguistic groups in Central Asia and Middle East.

Major Publications: "Soviet-Afghan Relations from Cooperation to Occupation," The International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 21, 1989; "Evolving Alternative Views on the Future of Afghanistan: An Afghan Perspective," Asia Survey, 33 1993; "Afghanistan's Relations with It's Neighbors," Critique, 8, 1996. "The Ahrari Waqf in Kabul, 1546, and the Mughal Naqshbandiyyah," Journal of American Oriental Society 119.1, Jan- March 1999; "For Afghans, A Start," Newsday Editorials, September 18, 2005.

Dissertations/Theses supervised: 6

Distinctions: President, Board of Eastern Summer Consortium in Persian and Turkish 1999- Present; Nominated for Outstanding Teacher Award (1994) by Committee of Arts and Sciences Student Council; Recipient of International Outstanding Staff Award for contributing to International Studies and research at OSU (1992); "Homeland Insecurity: War on Terrorism," The Ohio State University Alumni Magazine, November 2003, pp. 26-27.