A major part of The Middle East Studies Center's (MESC’s) mission, which is the generation of knowledge about the Middle East, relies on faculty and lecturers in a variety of fields who teach about Northern Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and areas of the world within the Muslim cultural sphere. The fields of expertise listed under each person’s name will inform prospective students about the areas of specialty they could pursue in graduate programs at OSU, and which departments have Middle East studies as a permanent part of their curriculum.
Each faculty person's name is linked to their OSU profile. The bio or CV link is to the biographical information kept on their department's site. To obtain their mailing address select the information on their department's site. NOTE: Please send mail to the faculty member's office in their department, rather than sending it to the Middle East Studies Center
Hassan Aly, Ph.D., Southern Illinois University
Associate Professor, Economics
(Labor; Technological Change)
email: aly.1@osu.edu
Bulent Bekcioglu, M.A., The Ohio State University
Lecturer, Near Eastern Language Center
(Turkish Language)
email: bekcioglu.1@osu.edu
Nina Berman, Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley
Professor, Comparative Studies
(20th century culture and literature; Germany and the Middle East)
email: berman.58@osu.edu
Naomi Brenner, Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley
Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Hebrew and Israeli literature and culture; Yiddish literature and culture; Arabic literature and culture; comparative Jewish literatures; comparative Middle Eastern literatures)
email: brenner.108@osu.edu
Snjezana Buzov, Ph.D., University of Chicago
Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Ottoman and Middle Eastern Historian)
email: buzov.1@osu.edu
Vincente Cantarino, Ph.D., University of Munich
Professor, Spanish & Portuguese
(Medieval Philosophy; Scholastic Theology; Arabic; Medieval Spanish Literature;
Intellectual History of Europe)
email: cantarino.1@osu.edu
John B. Casterline Ph.D., University of Michigan
Lazarus Professor in Population Studies, Department of Sociology
(Demographic change in the Arab region; Child development and well-being in Egypt; Childbearing and reproductive health in Pakistan)
email: casterline.10@sociology.osu.edu
Stratos Constantinidis, Ph.D., University of Iowa
Associate Professor, Theater
(Comparative Drama)
email: constantinidis.1@osu.edu
Howard Crane, Ph.D., Harvard University
Associate Professor, History of Art
(Middle Eastern Art & Architecture)
email: crane.1@osu.edu
Stephen Dale, Ph.D. University of California-Berkeley
Professor, History
(Iran; India; Central Asia)
email: dale.1@osu.edu
Bob Eckhart, J.D., Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University
Lecturer, English
(Special Topics in Preferential Communications)
email: eckhart.5@osu.edu
Howard M. Federspiel, Ph. D. McGill University
Professor Emeritus, Political Science
(Comparative Politics, International Relations, the American Presidency and Islamic Political Philosophy)
email: manley15@live.com email:
Carter Findley, Ph.D., Harvard University
Professor, History
(Ottoman Empire; Islamic History& Civilization)
email: findley.1@osu.edu )))))))
Carole Fink, Ph.D., Yale University
Professor, History
(Jewish and Israeli History)
email: fink.24@osu.edu
Daniel Frank, Ph.D., Harvard University
Assistant Professor, Coordinator of Hebrew Language Program, Near Eastern Languages & Cultures
(Post biblical Jewish History and Hebrew Literature;Medieval Jewish Philosophy; Biblical Exegesis;
Judeo-Arabic Language and Literature; Karaitica)
email: frank.152@osu.edu
Joseph Galron-Goldschlager, M.L.S. Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jewish Studies Librarian
email: galron.1@osu.edu
Matt Goldish, Ph.D., UCLA
Assistant Professor, History
(Medieval and Modern Jewish History)
email: goldish.1@osu.edu
Esther Gottlieb, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
Program Manager, CIRIT (Cluster Interdisciplinary Research on International Themes)
(Comparative & International Education; Women in the Middle East)
email: gottlieb.26@osu.edu
Fritz Graf, Ph. D., University of Zurich
Distinguished University Professor, Director of Epigraphy; Classics
(Greek Epigraphy, History of Scholarship, Ancient Religions and Mythologies)
email: graf.65@osu.edu
Timothy Gregory, Ph.D., University of Michigan
Professor, History
(Greco-Roman, Byzantine and Near East Archeology and History)
email: gregory.4@osu.edu
John Guilmartin, Ph.D., Princeton University
Associate Professor, History
(Military History and Technology)
email: guilmartin.1@osu.edu
Peter Hahn, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
Associate Professor, History
(American, Great Britain and Egyptian Diplomatic History)
email: hahn.29@osu.edu
Jane Hathaway, Ph.D., Princeton University
Associate Professor, History
(Ottoman Empire; Egypt )
email: hathaway.24@osu.edu
Richard Herrmann, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
Professor, Political Science
(International Relations; American Foreign Policy)
email: herrmann.24@osu.edu
Susan Huntington, Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles
Professor, History of Art
(South Asian Art)
email: huntington.1@osu.edu
Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., Columbia University
Associate Professor, Germanic Languages and Literatures
(Yiddish Linguistics)
email: jacobs.8@osu.edu
Pranav Jani, Ph.D., Brown University
Assistant Professor, Comparative Studies
(Postcolonial Studies Asian American Studies Twentieth-Century British and American Literature)
email: jani.4@osu.edu
Xinquan Jiang, Ph.D., University of Michigan
Senior Research Associate, Office of International Affairs
(Chinese, Korean, Internationalization in Higher Education, Assessment of Intercultural Competence)
email: jiang.533@osu.edu
Robin Judd, Ph.D., University of Michigan
Assistant Professor, History
(Modern Jewish History; German History; Medieval History;
Gender History and Theory)
email: judd.18@osu.edu
Anthony Kaldellis, Ph.D., University of Michigan
Professor, Department of Greek and Latin
(Byzantine History and Culture)
email: kaldellis.1@osu.edu
Alexander Kaye, Ph.D., University of Columbia
Assistant Professor, Department of History
(Jewish intellectual history, legal history and the history of Israel)
email: kaye.74@osu.edu
Ousman Kobo, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Assistant Professor, History
(20th century West African social and religious history)
email: kobo.1@osu.edu
Rattan Lal, Ph.D., The Ohio State University
Professor, School of Natural Resources and Department of Agronomy
(Soil Management; Land Degradation; Greenhouse Effect; Sustainable Agriculture)
email: lal.1@osu.edu
Scott Levi, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Assistant Professor, History
(Central Asian and Islamic World History; South Asia)
email: levi.18@osu.edu
William Liddle, Ph.D., Yale University
Professor, Political Science
(Islam; Southeast Asia)
email: liddle.2@osu.edu
Morgan Liu, Ph.D., University of Michigan
Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Muslims in (Post-) Socialist States, Islamic Knowledge and Publics)
email: liu.737@osu.edu
Peter Mansoor, Ph.D., Ohio State University
General Raymond Mason Chair of Military History, History
email: mansoor.1@osu.edu
Khulkar Matchanova, Ph.D., Tashkent State Pedagogical University
Lecturer, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Uzbek Language)
email: matchanova@osu.edu
Danielle Marx-Scouras, Ph.D., Columbia University
Professor, French and Italian
(Francophonic North Africa)
email: marx-scouras.1@osu.edu
Melinda McClimans, M.A., Ohio State University
Assistant Director, Middle Eastern Studies Center
(Arabic Language and Literature, Connections between Multicultural and Global Education)
email: mcclimans.2@osu.edu
Joy McCorriston, Ph.D., Yale University
Associate Professor, Anthropology
(Archeology; Archeo-botany-botany; Near East; Anthropological Dimensions of Climate Change;
Environmental Archeology)
email: mccoriston.1@osu.edu
Sam Meier, Ph.D., Harvard University
Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Comparative Semitism; Hebrew Bible)
email: meier.3@osu.edu
Hagop Mekhjian, M.D., American University of Beirut
Professor, Internal Medicine, College of Medicine
(International Medicine)
email: mekhjian.1@osu.edu
Merry Merryfield, Ed.D., Indiana University
Professor, School of Teaching and Learning
(Global perspectives in K-12 and teacher education)
Katherine Meyer, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Professor, Sociology
(Social change; Democracy, Gender and Religion)
email: meyer.23@osu.edu
David Miller, Ph.D., University of California
Associate Professor, Germanic Languages and Literatures
(Yiddish Literature; Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century German Prose Fiction)
email: miller.3@osu.edu
James Morganstern, Ph.D., New York University
Professor, History of Art
(Byzantine Art and Architecture)
email: morganstern.1@osu.edu
Nada Moumtaz, Ph.D. The Graduate Center- City University of New York
Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and Comparative Studies
(Anthropological approaches to the Study of Islam, Law, State, Property, Charity, the Levant, the Ottoman Empire)
email: moumtaz.1@osu.edu
Okechukwa Odita, Ph.D., University of Indiana
Professor, History of Art
(Art of North Africa; Art Media Techniques)
email: odita.1@osu.edu
Bilal Orfali, Ph.D., Yale University
Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Arabic, Pre-modern Arabic Literature, Islamic Mysticism, Qur'anic Studies, History of the Arabic Language)
email: orfali.1@osu.edu
Alam Payind, Ph.D., Indiana University
Director, Middle East Studies Center
Adjunct Professor, International Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and Political Science
(Middle Eastern and Central Asian Politics; Ethnic and Linguistic Groups in the Middle East and Central Asia)
email: payind.1@osu.edu
Barbara Piperata, Ph.D., University of Colorado-Boulder
Assistant Professor, Anthropology
(Human Energetics, Nutrition, Food Security, Poverty and Health, Human Ecology, Life History Theory, Political Economy)
email: piperata.1@osu.edu
Parvaneh Pourshariati, Ph.D., Columbia University
Assistant Professor, Coordinator of Persian Language Program, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Islamic Studies & Persian Studies)
email: pourshariati.1@osu.edu
John Quigley, L.L.B., Harvard Law School
Professor, College of Law
(International Law; Comparative Law; Human Rights Law)
email: quigley.2@osu.edu
Tamar Rudavsky, Ph.D., Brandeis University
Associate Professor, Philosophy
(Medieval Jewish and Islamic Philosophy)
email: rudavsky.1@osu.edu
Marcus Sandver, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Professor, Management and Human Resources
( Turkey , Industrial Relations)
email: sandver.1@osu.edu
Johanna Sellman, Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin
Middle East and Islamic Studies Librarian
(Comparative Literature, Arabic Literature, French, Literature)
email: sellman.13@osu.edu
Ahmad Sikainga, Ph.D., University of California-Santa Barbara
Associate Professor, History
(History of Islam in Africa; Colonialism)
email: sikainga.1@osu.edu
Dona Straley, Ph.D., University of Edinburgh
Associate Professor and Middle East Librarian
( Middle East Bibliography and Research Methods)
email: straley.1@osu.edu
Michael Swartz, Ph.D., New York University
Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Division of Comparative Studies, and Melton Center for Jewish Studies
(Rabbinics; Ancient Hebrew)
email: swartz.69@osu.edu
Adena Tanenbaum, Ph.D., Harvard University
Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Post biblical Hebrew Literature and Jewish History; Medieval Hebrew Poetry and Belles-Lettres; Modern Hebrew Literature and Language; Medieval Jewish Philosophy; Biblical Exegesis; Judeo-Arabic Language and Literature)
email: tanenbaum.8@osu.edu
Alexander Thompson, Ph.D., University of Chicago, Department of Political Science
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
(International Relations Theory; International Organization; International Political Economy; International Environmental Politics; U.S. Foreign Policy)
email: thompson.1191@osu.edu
Inés Valdez, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2011
Assistant Professor, Political Science
(Immigration, Democratic Theory, and Latina/o Political Thought)
email: valdez.39@osu.edu
Kevin van Bladel, Ph.D., Yale University
Associate Professor and Chair, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Near East, Ancient Iran, Early Arabic)
email: vanbladel.2@osu.edu
Burkhard Von Rabenau, Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley
Professor, City and Regional Planning
(Urban/Regional Economic Development and Growth; Problems of Urbanization)
email: vonrabenau.1@osu.edu
Mohan Wali, Ph.D., The University of British Columbia
Professor, School of Natural Resources
(Ecosystem Disturbance and Rehabilitation/Restoration; Sustainable Development,
Energy Use and Policy)
email: wali.1@osu.edu
Sabra Webber, Ph.D., University of Texas-Austin
Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and Department of Comparative Studies
(Middle Eastern Anthropology)
email: webber.1@osu.edu
Sam White, Ph.D., University of St. Andrews
Associate Professor, History
(Environmental History; Climate Change)
email: white.2426@osu.edu
Joseph Zeidan, Ph.D., University of California-Berkeley
Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
(Arabic Language and Literature; Hebrew Literature; Arabic Philosophy)
email: zeidan.1@osu.edu