University announces Penn Global Middle East Distinguished Visiting Scholar Initiative

Penn Global is pleased to announce the creation of the Penn Global Middle East Distinguished Visiting Scholar Initiative, and the appointment of the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Scholars, modern Middle East historian Shay Hazkani, political scientist Amal Jamal, and public opinion expert Dahlia Scheindlin. The new initiative will further the strategic priorities of In Principle and Practice, the University’s strategic framework. 

Fulfilling Penn Global’s mission to bring the world to Penn, the Penn Global Middle East Distinguished Visiting Scholar Initiative brings regional senior scholars to the University of Pennsylvania whose expertise and experiences enable a critical examination of the charged and complex issues shaping events in the Middle East. Through this initiative, the University will bring up to two scholars per year for a period of residency up to a semester during which time they will teach courses and participate in public dialogue- or community-based programming. 

“By bringing scholars from the region to the University, this program will foster deeper intellectual engagement of historical and contemporary issues facing the Middle East, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” says Ezekiel Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives. “It fulfills the University’s strategic imperative ‘to strengthen the bonds of our community’ and implements a recommendation made by the Presidential Commission on Countering Hate and Building Community to establish a scholar program that focuses on talking across differences.”