Heather Sharkey Selected as Foreign Visiting Chair

Heather Sharkey, Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, has been chosen to be one of 12 foreign visiting researchers for the 2012-2013 academic year by the Institut d'études de l'islam et des sociétés du monde musulman (IISMM) of the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. There, she will deliver four lectures at various French institutions throughout a one-month period.

In 2006, Sharkey was named a Carnegie Scholar for her innovative scholarship on the study of Islam and the modern world. Carnegie Scholars receive up to $100,000 over a two-year period to pursue their chosen research topics. She was the 2011 recipient of the Charles Ludwig Distinguished Teaching Award, established by the College Alumni Society and given to a School of Arts and Sciences’ standing faculty member who has demonstrated a commitment to the active learning process. Sharkey is also the author of several books, including Living with Colonialism: Nationalism and Culture in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, American Evangelicals in Egypt: Missionary Encounters in an Age of Empire, and is currently working on a book about the history of intercommunal relations in the modern Middle East.

The IISMM seeks to create a space for the collaborative study of the Muslim world by offering support to young researchers and contributing to the dissemination of scientific knowledge on Islam through publications, lectures and training activities.