Faculty
From a core of four scholars in 1957, the faculty corps involved in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at UCLA has grown to include more than 60 individuals across the humanities, social sciences and professional fields.
These faculty have mentored more than 1000 current and former graduate students, thereby assuring the growth and diversification of the field and the profession. As a collective, they have contributed significantly through their research and travel to deepening our knowledge base and our understanding of the Middle East and its people, both in the region and in diaspora.
Their accomplishments in the past five years include hundreds of publications on a variety of topics, from a concise history of the modern Middle East to works on aspects of Islamic law, Ottoman historiography, Arabic music, Ismaili legal doctrine, Persian philosophy, modern Iran, and the evolution of Biblical Hebrew. Three UCLA faculty have translated five volumes of al-Tabari’s History in the SUNY Press edition.
CNES faculty have excelled professionally as well, five having served as president of the Middle East Studies Association (including G.E. von Grunebaum, MESA’s honorary first president in 1966), while other faculty are active members of various MESA committees. Many have been recognized for their teaching and lifetime achievements, including Afaf Marsot and Nikki Keddie who received the MESA Mentorship Award in 2000 and 2001 respectively.
UCLA faculty took the lead in forming the California Middle East Social and Cultural History Association (CAL-MESCHA) and founding the UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law.
Affiliated Faculty
Anthropology
- Sondra Hale
Professor Emeritus, Interim Co-Director, Center for Near Eastern Studies - Nancy Levine
Professor, Department of Anthropology - Susan Slyomovics
Professor, Anthropology (on sabbatical AY 2012-13)
Architecture and Urban Design
- Samuel Aroni
Professor Emeritus and Director, Special Academic Cooperative Projects
Art History
- Susan Downey
Professor - Saloni Mathur
Associate Professor, Department of Art History - Steven Nelson
Associate Professor
History
- Edward A. Alpers
Professor - Sebouh Aslanian
Assistant Professor & Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History - S. Scott Bartchy
Senior Lecturer, Director of Center for the Study of Religion - Ra'anan Boustan
Assistant Professor of Early Judaism and Ancient Mediterranean Religions - James Gelvin
Professor - Nile Green
Professor, Department of History; Director, Program on Central Asia - Richard Hovannisian
Professor Emeritus - Nikki Keddie
Professor Emerita - Ghislaine Lydon
Associate Professor - Afaf Marsot
Professor Emerita - Michael Morony
Professor, Chair of Islamic Studies IDP - David Myers
Professor, Director of Center for Jewish Studies - Gabriel Piterberg
Professor, Interim Co-Director, Center for Near Eastern Studies - Teofilo Ruiz
Professor - Sarah Stein
Professor
Comparative Literature
- Nouri Gana
Assistant Professor - Gil Zehava Hochberg
Assistant Professor - Françoise Lionnet
Director, African Studies Center; Professor, French & Francophone Studies, Comparative Literature and Gender Studies - Aamir Mufti
Associate Professor, Department of Comparative Literature
Economics
- Sule Ozler
Associate Professor
English
- Ali Behdad
Professor - Christine Chism
Associate Professor - Janet Hadda
Professor Emerita - Saree Makdisi
Professor
Ethnomusicology
- Munir Beken
Assistant Professor, Ethnomusicology - Ali Jihad Racy
Professor - Hiromi Lorraine Sakata
Professor Emerita
French and Francophone Studies
- Dominic Thomas
Professor
Law
- Khaled Abou El Fadl
Professor, Chair of Islamic Studies IDP - Asli Bali
Assistant Professor
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
- Carol Bakhos
Associate Professor, Jewish Studies - Amin Banani
Professor Emeritus of Persian & History - Arnold Band
Professor Emeritus, Hebrew & Comparative Literature - Andras Bodrogligeti
Professor Emeritus of Turkic Languages - Ra'anan Boustan
Assistant Professor of Early Judaism and Ancient Mediterranean Religions - Giorgio Buccellati
Professor Emeritus of Assyriology, History & Archaeology - Aaron A. Burke
Assistant Professor of Archaeology of Ancient Israel & the Levant - Elizabeth Carter
Department Chair, Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology - Michael D. Cooperson
Associate Professor of Arabic - S. Peter Cowe
Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies - Herbert A. Davidson
Professor Emeritus of Hebrew - Jacco Dieleman
Assistant Professor of Egyptology - Robert K. Englund
Professor of Assyriology & Sumerology - Nancy Ezer
Lecturer in Hebrew - Michael Fishbein
Lecturer Emeritus in Arabic - Altay Goyushov
Visiting Professor - Latifeh Hagigi
Lecturer in Persian - Lev Hakak
Professor of Hebrew - David G. Hirsch
Librarian & Assistant Adjunct Professor - Ralph Jaeckel
Lecturer Emeritus in Turkish - Anahid Keshishian
Lecturer in Armenian - Hagop Kouloujian
Lecturer in Armenian - Guliz Kuruoglu
Lecturer in Turkish - Nahid Pirnazar
Lecturer in Iranian Studies - Ismail K. Poonawala
Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures - Yona Sabar
Professor of Hebrew - Asma Sayeed
Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies - William Schniedewind
Professor and Chair, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures - M. Rahim Shayegan
Associate Professor of Iranian - Susan Slyomovics
Professor, Anthropology (on sabbatical AY 2012-13) - Willemina Wendrich
Associate Professor of Egyptian Archaeology & History
Political Science
- Leonard Binder
Distinguished Professor of Political Science - Michael L. Ross
Professor of Political Science, Director of Center for Southeast Asian Studies - Steven L. Spiegel
Professor, Political Science
Director, Center for Middle East Development
Public Health
- Osman Galal
Professor - Gail Harrison
Professor
Sociology
- Andreas Wimmer
Professor
Women's Studies
- Sondra Hale
Professor Emeritus, Interim Co-Director, Center for Near Eastern Studies
World Arts and Cultures
- Allen F. Roberts
Professor
