Graduate studies in MELC are conducted under the auspices of the Graduate Group in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. In the Graduate Group faculty, the Standing Faculty of MELC is augmented by archeologists, historians, art historians, and specialists on religions of Middle Eastern origin who share its focus on the primary sources of the Middle East. Many emeritus faculty also continue to be active in working with students in the MA and PhD programs.
MELC faculty also hold close connections with Penn Museum (which draws several of its curators from the faculty of MELC), the Middle East Center, the Center for Ancient Studies, the program in Ancient History, the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, and the program in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World, among other programs and institutions.
Timothy Hogue
Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israelite History and Culture
709 Williams HallRead Bio
Jennifer Houser Wegner
Curator, Egyptian Section, Penn Museum Adjunct Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Languages & Cultures (Egyptology)
514 PENN MuseumRead Bio
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet
Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History
Modern Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, and Iran
Harun Küçük
Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science
Joseph E. Lowry
Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies
Medieval Islam, Islamic Law
837 Williams HallRead Bio
Holly Pittman
Bok Family Professor in the Humanities
Ancient Near Eastern Art
302 Jaffe BuildingRead Bio
Lauren Ristvet
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Near Eastern Archaeology
516 PENN MuseumRead Bio
Fatemeh Shams
Associate Professor of Persian Literature
Persian Literature
838 Williams HallRead Bio
Heather J. Sharkey
Professor of Modern Middle Eastern and North African History
Modern Islamic History, Thought & Culture
835 Williams HallRead Bio
David P. Silverman
Eckley Brinton Coxe, Jr. Professor of Egyptology Curator, Egyptian Section, University Museum
Egyptology
521 PENN MuseumRead Bio