Penn Global Middle East Distinguished Visiting Scholar Initiative

Launched in Fall 2025, the Penn Global Middle East Distinguished Visiting Scholar Initiative brings senior scholars from the Israel and the Arab Muslim world to Penn for semester-long residencies that integrate teaching, research, and public engagement.

(Left to right) Dahlia Scheindlin, Shay Hazkani, Amal Jamal, and Khalil Shikaki are the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Scholars in the Penn Global Middle East Distinguished Visiting Scholar Initiative. (Left image: Eyal Warshavsky)

The initiative responds to an urgent institutional and global need: to foster rigorous, balanced, and humane scholarship and dialogue on the Middle East at a moment of profound political violence, polarization, and misinformation. Through semester-long residencies, the initiative ensures that students and the broader Penn community engage on the urgent challenges facing the Middle East through rigorous scholarship and the first-hand perspectives of leading experts.

Middle East Experts and Academics

Four Middle East experts and academics are inaugurating the program, which began in the fall 2025 with the arrival of the first visiting scholar, Dahlia Scheindlin. Shay Hazkani has joined the Penn campus for the spring 2026 term. Amal Jamal will be on campus in the fall 2026 and Khalil Shikaki in the spring 2027.

Dalia Schwindlig

Dahlia Scheindlin


Fall 2025
Shay Hazkani

Shay Hazkani

Spring 2026
Amal Jamal

Amal Jamal

Fall 2026

Khalil Shikaki

Spring 2027

The School of Arts & Sciences’ Departments of Political Science and History host the scholars during their periods of residency.

Penn & the Middle East
Campus Initiatives

Penn actively connects with the Middle East through a variety of initiatives and curatorial collections that promote academic cooperation, research advancements, and student exchange. 

learn about penn global middle
east programs and initiatives