Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Heather Sharkey guided four undergraduates during their internships over the summer during which they studied food in the Middle East and pursued individual research projects on oranges, olive oil, coffee, and sorghum. The research internship was designed to offer students an opportunity to explore the political, economic, and social significance of these items to the region, while also building their professional development skills through virtual engagements. In addition, the students assisted Heather Sharkey in creatively adapting her Fall seminar, “Food in the Islamic Middle East” for the online format, and in developing a proposal for a new book on food history. The internships were made possible in partnership with the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring (PURM) program.
Updated November 2020