Alumni & Friends

Recent Alumni News

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MELC Updates 2024-2025

Faculty Updates Shai David Ben Ami A current Israel Institute and ISEF Fellow, he has joined the MELC faculty for the 2024-2025 academic year. Published a new book in Hebrew, “The Zionist Zoo: The History of Zoos in Israel.” https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://resling.… Read more
Prof. Elkhafaifi's Award, a Libyan Clock

MELC Faculty Honored during Arab American Heritage Month

In a recent blog post celebrating Arab American Heritage Month,  UW President Ana Mari Cauce acknowledges achievements of our department and, in particular, of… Read more
Alum awarded the Middle East Medievalists Book Prize

Alum awarded the Middle East Medievalists Book Prize

Jocelyn Hendrickson, who completed a BA in our department along with a BA in Comparative Religion in 1999, has been awarded the Middle East Medievalists Book Prize for 2023. Dr. Hendrickson is currently Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Alberta. Her book, Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa, was published by Harvard University Press. Combining legal theory with social history, It focuses on legal opinions (fatwas… Read more
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MELC Updates 2023-2024

Faculty Updates Canan Bolel Presented “The Foreigner Within: Ashkenazi Butchers, Sephardic Jews and Imageries of Foreignness in the Late Ottoman Empire” at Jews amidst the Embers of the Ottoman Empire, University of Washington, Seattle. May 21-22.  Presented “The Unlikelihood of Wholeness” for Prof. Andrew Nestingen’s “The Nobel Prize in Literature” course on 1981 Nobel Laureate in Literature Elias Canetti. Presented “No Place for Mazalto: Female Insanity… Read more
Naomi Sokoloff

Letter from the Chair

This year our department has had a special occasion for self-reflection: a Program Review, as is required of all academic units at UW every ten years. Among other things, the review process calls for a self-study report assessing how we are doing and how we have fared in the past decade. In our deliberations, we are noting multiple significant changes the department has undergone since our last review – including a change of departmental name. Previously we were Near Eastern Languages and… Read more
Mamoun Sakkal

MELC's New Logo: Designed by Mamoun Sakkal

Dr. Mamoun Sakkal designed the original NELC logo in 1997, and we thank him now for providing us an updated MELC design. He became a full time Arabic type designer after receiving his PhD from the Near and Middle Eastern Studies Interdisciplinary program at UW in 2010, and he has served as an affiliate instructor in our department. Dr. Sakkal has lectured on Islamic art, Arabic calligraphy, and Arabic typography at universities and conferences in the United States, Canada, England, Dubai,… Read more
UW Giving Day

Friends of NELC Fund

Husky Giving Day Success! On April 7, Husky Giving Day, NELC raised $2400!  Thanks to all the donors who contributed to our Friends of NELC Fund, and special thanks to the anonymous donor who matched the first $1000 in contributions. Your support helps the department thrive and support our educational mission
nelc Prof. Jere Bacharach Presentation on Fustat

ARCE 2019-2020 Public Lecture Series starts with Jere Bacharach on Fustat

On October 2, Dr. Jere Bacharach, professor emeritus of history at UW, gave a public lecture through the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) called, “Excavating Fustat, Cairo, Egypt.” The lecture introduced both the history of excavation at the site in Fustat as well as the findings of the excavations. By Erin Kelleher, NELC MA student. Erin works on Near and Middle Eastern intellectual history Professor Bacharach explained first that Fustat was continuously occupied from pre-… Read more
Ali Igmen receiving award from John Keeler, the dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburg

Alumni Achievement: Ali Igmen

NELC alumnus Ali Igmen recently received a generous award from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. The “International Public Service Award” recognizes of his outstanding service to young scholars of Central Eurasia. Professor Igmen has hosted many Central Eurasian scholars from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Georgia at California State University, Long Beach.  Igmen also mentors and serves on masters and doctoral committees for American and… Read more
Mark Lehner

First Fall 2018 ARCE Lecture, Lost City of Pyramids by Dr. Mark Lehner

As a part of the ARCE Lecture series, Dr. Mark Lehner presented a talk on October 2, 2018 about last year's AERA excavations for the Lost City of the Pyramids, next to Heit al-Ghurab, or Wall of Crow. In his well attended talk,  Dr. Lehner discussed work in the daily life of the ancient city of… Read more
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