Faculty and Staff

Silk Road Music Performance
An Afternoon of Music from the Silk Road
March 11, 2026
MELC Faculty and Student News 2025-2026
February 7, 2026
Students in Morocco during the 2025 study abroad in front of a landmark
Morocco and Enchantment: Arabic and Islamic Studies 2026
February 7, 2026
Cover of In the Shadow of the Holocaust
From Shadows of the Holocaust to the Streets of Iran: Stories of Survival and Resistance
February 7, 2026
Cover of Shape of Extinction: Poems by Bijun Jalali
Award-Winning Persian Poetry in Translation: The Shape of Extinction and Elegies of the Earth
February 6, 2026
Zuhal Olcay with the audience at her talk
Exploring Complex Identities: Turkish and Ottoman Studies 2026
February 6, 2026
An open air church built by Lalibela in Ehiopia
Horn of Africa Studies 2026
February 6, 2026
The MELC Department Faculty
From the Chair (2026)
February 6, 2026
Amina in Morocco
MELC Summer Study Abroad: Arabic Language and Culture in Morocco!
January 9, 2026
Cover of Shape of Extinction
Aria Fani Awarded the MLA Roth Translation Award for 2025
December 30, 2025
Lillian McCabe
Lillian McCabe Recognized with Honorable Mention for the Kerr Dissertation Award at MESA
December 1, 2025
uhal Oclay Melike Yucel Koc

Zuhal Olcay, Acclaimed Performing Artist from Turkey, in a Conversation with MELC Professor Melike Yücel-Koç 
November 13, 2025
Melike
MELC Prof. Melike Yücel Koç Presents on Immigrant Narratives and American Identity at the OHA Conference
October 27, 2025
Reflection: Turkish 101/511 Session at TurkFest 2025
Reflection: Turkish 101/511 Session at TurkFest 2025
October 21, 2025
McCabe talk
Translating Enchantment: Journeys of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s (d. 1210) Book of the Hidden Secret
October 14, 2025
Aria Fani
Aria Fani awarded René Wellek Prize for Best Book in Comparative Literature
June 17, 2025
Hamza
Prof. Hamza Zafer featured in “Ways of Knowing Episode 3: Ge’ez"
June 4, 2025
Cover of Shape of Extinction
New Publication Highlights Iranian Poetry in Translation
May 19, 2025
Stephanie Selover
From the Chair (2025)
February 21, 2025
MELC Updates 2024-2025
February 18, 2025
SHAI BEN AMI
Interview with Shai ben Ami: Middle Eastern Studies and the Environment
February 18, 2025
ARABIC AND ISLAMIC NEWS
What is happening in the Arabic and Islamic Studies Unit?
February 18, 2025
HBANES
Exploring Archaeology with Our HBANES Faculty
February 18, 2025
Bolel
Ladino Day 2024
February 18, 2025
Aria
“Collaboration was absolutely key to success”: Interview with Dr. Aria Fani, Director of the Persian and Iranian Studies Program
February 18, 2025
Mehari
Introducing Mehari Worku and Our New Horn of Africa Program at UW
February 18, 2025
hoa
MELC Event Celebrates The Horn of Africa @ UW
February 6, 2025
ladino day
 Ladino Day Interview with Leigh Bardugo & MELC professor Canan Bolel
December 13, 2024
Adrian Brunke
UW undergraduate Adrian Brunke awarded the Redhouse Best Progress in the Turkish Language Award
November 14, 2024
Aria Fani
Book Launch | Reading Across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Literary Nationalism | Prof. Aria Fani in conversation with Anna Learn
October 21, 2024
Ancient map
Envisioning the Landscape of the Svoboda Diaries
October 18, 2024
zoo
MELC Takes Dawg Days at the Zoo
October 12, 2024
Morocco
MELC Lecturer Amina Moujtahid's Summer 2024 Intensive Language Program in Morocco
October 2, 2024
Gary
MELC Emeritus Professor blows his Alphorn
September 11, 2024
photo
Prof. Fani’s First Book to be Published in Iran
August 30, 2024
Business Language - Persian
Global Business Center Awards Grant for Persian Business Language Curriculum
May 16, 2024
Prof. Elkhafaifi's Award, a Libyan Clock
MELC Faculty Honored during Arab American Heritage Month
April 25, 2024
The Combinatorial House of Wisdom book cover
Announcing a New Book by Prof. Amina Moujtahid
April 12, 2024
An image from the GLITS "Let There Be Lit Symposium"
Launch of the Global Literary Studies Major
April 10, 2024
Melike
Prof. Melike Yücel-Koç Receives Language Educator of the Year Award
February 28, 2024
A test wall at the excavation site, after cleaning and conservation.
Prof. Stephanie Selover Awarded a Site Preservation Grant by the  American Institute of Archaeology
February 27, 2024
MELC Updates 2023-2024
February 26, 2024
Hunter Bandy
New Faculty in MELC 2023-2024
February 21, 2024
Creative Approaches
February 21, 2024
Word cloud
Tech-Enhanced Language Learning: Navigating Innovative Platforms for MELC language Courses
February 21, 2024
al-Hariri ship
Black Stewards of Early Islamic Lands: The 2024 Ziadeh Lecture
February 21, 2024
China, Taiwan
The 2023 Symposium on Indigenous Languages in China and Taiwan
February 21, 2024
kasaba event
Engaging Academic Events by the Turkish and Ottoman Studies Program
February 21, 2024
Rakhshan bani-etemad
A Week with Rakhshan Bani-E'temad at MELC
February 21, 2024
pic1
Afrassiabi Lecture Pushes against Boundaries of Persian and Iranian Studies
February 21, 2024