DENISE A. SPELLBERG CURRICULUM VITAE
128 Inner Campus Drive, B7000 [email protected] Department of History, University of Texas office: GAR 3.208 Austin, Texas
EDUCATION • Columbia University, Ph.D. in History, May 1989 • Columbia University, M. Phil in History, October 1984 • Columbia University, M.A. in History, May 1983 • Smith College, B.A. in History, May 1980, Phi Beta Kappa ACADEMIC POSITIONS
•Professor, Department of History and Middle Eastern Studies, September 2014-present Fellow of John E. Green Regents Professorship in History, 2015-2016 •Associate Professor, Department of History and Middle Eastern Studies, 1996-2014 • Assistant Professor, Department of History and Middle Eastern Studies, 1990-1995 • Faculty Affiliate, Department and Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic Studies, American Studies, Religious Studies, Medieval Studies, the Center for Gender and Women’s Studies, and the Center for European Studies, 1990- present •Research Associate and Visiting Lecturer in the Women’s Studies and World Religions Program, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, 1989-90 •Lecturer in European History, Department of History, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 1988-89 ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS • Director, History Department Honors Program, 2014- • Associate Director, Medieval Studies Program, 2007-2008 • Director, Religious Studies Program, 1995-1996 • Designer and core faculty for Tracking Cultures, an intensive undergraduate study abroad program, dedicated to the analysis of Islamic and Spanish cultural precedents surviving in Mexico, Texas, and the American Southwest, 1995-2003
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PUBLICATIONS
Authored Books
Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders. Alfred A. Knopf, October, 2013. 392 pages. Paperback, Vintage Press, July 2014.
Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of ‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr, Columbia University Press, 1994. Paperback 1996. Reviewed by Jane I. Smith in IJMES 28:2 (1996): 255- 56.
Foreign Language and Other Editions of Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an
Tantor Media, audiobook version, narrated by Jo Anna Perrin, 2018
Turkish edition, Geoturka Press, Istanbul, Turkey, 2017
Indonesian edition, Pustaka Alvabet Press, Jakarta, Indonesia, 2015.
Arabic edition, Jadawel Press, Beirut, Lebanon, 2015.
BOOK AWARDS for Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders
Grand Prize winner of the 2014 University Co-op Robert W. Hamilton Book Award, chosen by an interdisciplinary committee of faculty from among the 51 books published at UT Austin from all colleges and fields in the year 2013. “The Hamilton Awards are among the highest honors of literary achievement given for UT Austin authors.” October 15, 2014.
Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards, Nonfiction Finalist 2013/2014, September 30, 2014.
I-CAIR Faith in Freedom Award, from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Cleveland, Ohio Chapter, “For promoting a better understanding of the history of religious freedom in America and for writing Muslims back into our nation’s founding narrative through the extraordinary and illuminating scholarly work, Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders,” May 11, 2014.
BOOK AWARD for Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of ‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr
Dost (“Friend”) Book Prize awarded by the Turkish Women’s Cultural Association, Istanbul, for Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past (1994), for “universal contribution to Islamic Studies,” January 2009. Award presented at formal ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey.
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Books in Progress, Accepted for Publication
‘A’isha in Islamic and American History: A Global Life. Contract signed with Columbia University Press after two positive anonymous readers’ reports on the manuscript. In final revisions, forthcoming 2021
Books in Progress
Muslims and Jews between Race and Religion, Comparative Precedents for Quotas, Exclusion, Naturalization, and Citizenship in American Immigration Policy, 1904-Present
Invited Articles in Progress
“Muslim Migration and Immigration, 1790-1945,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam in North America, edited by Amir Hussain, et al. (New York: Oxford University Press), 6,000-8,000 words, peer-reviewed, due May 2020.
“Thomas Jefferson and Islam,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam in North America, edited by Amir Hussain, et al. (New York: Oxford University Press), 10,000 words, peer-reviewed, due February 2020.
““Finding ‘Fatima’ among Enslaved Muslim Women in the Antebellum United States: Toward a Methodology for Documentation in Databases,” in Janell Hobson, ed. Routledge Companion to Black Women’s Cultural Histories (New York: Routledge), accepted and due after revision, February 2019; forthcoming 2020.
“‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr,” Routledge Medieval Encyclopedia online, 2020
“Eve in Islam,” Routledge Medieval Encyclopedia online, 2020.
“Jefferson Qur’an,” for Oxford Dictionary of Islam, online, 2nd edition, 2020.
Invited Articles Completed, Accepted for Publication, and Forthcoming
“Animals in Early Global Literatures: The Camel,” in Geraldine Heng, ed., Options for Teaching the Global Middle Ages (New York: The Modern Language Association), 8618 words, peer- reviewed, forthcoming 2020.
“Benjamin Franklin, Islam, and Abolition,” in American and Muslim Worlds, 1500-1900, edited by John Ghazvinian and Mitchell Fraas (London: Bloomsbury Press), Peer-reviewed, accepted for publication, forthcoming January 2020.
“Thomas Jefferson,” in Christian-Muslim Relations A Bibliographical History, The Americas (1800-1900), vol. 16 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, forthcoming); accepted for publication, online 2020; forthcoming in hard copy, 2021.
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Articles and Book Chapters
“John Trenchard,” in David Thomas and John Chesworth, eds., Christian-Muslim Relations A Bibliographical History, Western Europe (1700-1800), vol. 13 (Leiden: E.J. Brill Publishers, 2019), 172-173.
“Cato’s letters; or, Essays on liberty, civil and religious, and other important subjects,” in David Thomas and John Chesworth, eds., Christian-Muslim Relations, A Bibliographical History, Western Europe (1700-1800), vol. 13 (Leiden: E.J. Brill Publishers, 2019), 174-178.
“Benjamin Franklin and Islam,” Pennsylvania Legacies, invited article for special volume on Islam in Pennsylvania, vol. 18, no. 1 (Spring 2018): 12-19. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5215/pennlega.18.1.0012
“Muslims, Toleration, and Civil Rights, from Roger Williams to Thomas Jefferson,” in The Lively Experiment: Toleration in America from Roger Williams to the Present, ed. C. Beneke and C. Grenda, forward by Jon Butler (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2015), 85-100. Winner Choice’s “Outstanding Academic Titles” Top 25 Books for 2015.
“Islam and the Atlantic,” in The Atlantic World, 1450-1850, ed. D’ Maris Coffman, Adrian Leonard, and William O’Reilly (London: Routledge, 2015), 376-392.
“‘Laws of the Profit’: Language, Religion, and Money in the Founding Fathers’ Diplomacy with a Muslim Kingdom,” for the Brookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, Analysis Paper No. 17 (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, Saban Institute for Middle East Policy, August 2014), pp. 1-24. Peer reviewed. http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2014/09/04-founding-fathers-diplomacy-muslim- kingdom-spellberg
“Islam in America: Adventures in Neo-Orientalism,” Review of Middle East Studies, Vol. 4, No.1, pp. 25-35, Summer 2009.
“Could a Muslim Be President? An Eighteenth-Century Constitutional Debate,” Eighteenth- Century Studies, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 485-506, Summer 2006. Peer reviewed.
“History Then, History Now: The Role of Medieval Islamic Religio-Political Sources in Shaping the Modern Debate on Gender,” in Amira Sonbol, ed., Beyond the Exotic: Women’s Histories in Islamic Societies, pp. 3-14. Syracuse University Press, 2005.
“Inventing Matamoras: Gender and the Forgotten Islamic Past in the United States of America,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp.148-164. 2004.
“Islam on the Eighteenth-Century Stage: Voltaire’s Mahomet Crosses the Atlantic,” in eds., Neguin Yavari, Lawrence G. Potter, and Jean-Marc Ran Oppenheim, Views from the Edge: Essays in Honor of Richard W. Bulliet, pp. 245-260. Columbia University Press, 2004.
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“Writing the Unwritten Life of the Islamic Eve: Menstruation and the Demonization of Motherhood,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3, August, pp. 305-324. 1996. Peer reviewed.
“Political Action and Public Example: Perceptions of ‘A’isha in the Battle of the Camel,”eds., N. Keddie and B. Baron, in Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender, pp. 45-58. Yale University Press, 1991.
“The Politics of Praise: Depictions of Khadija, Fatima, and ‘A’isha in Ninth-Century Muslim Sources,” Literature East and West, Vol. 26, pp. 130-148. 1990.
“Marriages Made in Heaven and Illustrated on Earth: A Note on the Disjunction between Verbal and Visual Images in An Ottoman Manuscript,” Bulletin of the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, Vol. 16, pp. 47-54. 1989-90.
“Nizam al-Mulk’s Manipulation of Tradition: ‘A’isha and the Role of Women in the Islamic Government,” The Muslim World, Vol. 51, No.2, pp. 111-117. 1988.
“The Umayyad North: Numismatic Evidence for Frontier Administration.” The Museum Notes of the American Numismatic Society, Vol. 33, pp. 119-127. 1988.
“As-Sayyida ‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr: Final Report,” The American Research Center in Egypt Newsletter, Vol. 33, pp. 7-11. 1986.
Encyclopedia Entries
“Hind bt. ‘Utba,” The Encyclopaedia of Islam, third edition, Part 2018-5 (July 2018): 72-74, http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3 (Peer reviewed)
“Barack Obama and Islamophobia,” Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, Richard C. Martin ed., 2nd edition (Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2016), 2: 809.
“‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr, (ca. 614-678), wife of Muhammad,” in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, P. Crone, W. Kadi, D. Stewart, and M. Q. Zaman, eds., pp. 27-28. Princeton University Press, 2012.
“‘Aisha bint Abi Bakr,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, B. Smith, ed., Vol. 1, pp. 92-93. Oxford University Press, 2008.
“‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr,” in Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, J. Meri, ed., Vol. 1, pp. 23-24. Routledge Press, 2006.
“Gender in the Middle East,” in The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, M. Horowitz, ed., Vol. 3, pp. 873-876. Scribner’s Sons, 2005.
“Mahdi” and “Ulama,” in Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, P. Mattar,
5 ed., 2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 1462-1463 and Vol. 4, pp. 2258-2259, respectively. MacMillan Publishing Company, 2004.
“‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr,” in The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an, J. McAuliffe, ed., Vol. 1, pp. 55- 60. E.J. Brill, 2001.
“Qur’an and Hadith,” in The Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion, S. Young, ed., Vol. 2, pp. 826-829. Macmillan Publishing, 1999. “Madrasa,” and “Waqf,” in The Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, 1st ed., R. Bulliet , P. Mattar, and R. Simon eds., Vol. 3:1143, Vol. 4:1822-23, respectively. MacMillan, 1995.
“Sufism,” in The Encyclopedia of Social History, P. Stearns, ed., pp. 732-734. Garland, 1994.
Book Reviews (selected)
Review of Jeffrey Einboden, Jefferson’s Muslim Fugitives: The Lost Story of Enslaved Africans, Their Arabic Letters, and an American President, invited for Black Perspectives, an award- winning online publication of the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS), due June 2020.
Nadia El Cheikh, Women, Islam, and Abbasid Identity, The American Historical Review, Vol. 122, No. 2 (April 2017): 606-607.
John Tolan, Gilles Veinstein, and Henry Laurens, Europe and the Islamic World, for Journal of World History, Vol. 26, No. 3 (September 2015): 647- 650, published 2016.
Chase Robinson, Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia. The American Historical Review, Vol. 108, No.2, pp. 611-612. 2003.
Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Authoritative and the Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses. Journal of Law and Religion, Vol.15, Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 397-399. 2000-2001.
Hugh Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 162-164. 2000.
Gavin R.G. Hambly, ed., Women in the Medieval Islamic World, The International History Review, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 11-13. 1999.
Fedwa Malti-Douglas, Woman’s Body, Woman’s Word: Gender and Discourse in Arabo-Islamic Writing, Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 2, p. 229. 1992.
OP-EDS in Print and Online Journals
“Why Jefferson’s Vision of American Islam Matters Today,” updated to consider President Trump’s resumption of the Ramadan iftar celebration in 2018; June 7, 2018, http://theconversation.com/why-jeffersons-vision-of-american-islam-matters-today-97915
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“Why Jefferson’s Vision of American Islam Matters Today,” The Conversation, May 31, 2017, https://theconversation.com/why-jeffersons-vision-of-american-islam-matters-today-78155
“Republican Presidents have visited American mosques in the past, but Obama can’t visit one today,” for Faith Matters, U.S. News and World Report, December 30, 2015, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/faith-matters/articles/2015-12-30/republican-presidents- have-visited-american-mosques-but-obama-cant
“Scholars: Trump’s Call to ‘Ban Muslims’ is Un-American,” The Conversation, December 11, 2015, https://theconversation.com/scholars-trumps-call-to-ban-muslims-is-un-american-52065
“Ahmed Mohamed and Thomas Jefferson: A tale of two clocks,” The Hill, Congress Blog, (“The Hill’s Forum for Lawmakers and Policy Professionals”), October 16, 2015, http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/religious-rights/257035-ahmed-mohamed-and- thomas- jefferson-a-tale-of-two-clocks
“Ben Carson Would Fail U.S. History,” Time Magazine online; September 21, 2015, http://time.com/4042435/ben-carson-would-fail-u-s-history/
“Thomas Jefferson, Muslims, and the Golden Rule,” op-ed commissioned for Sunday Viewpoints The Free Lance-Star Newspaper, Fredericksburg, VA., January 12, 2014; picked up by the McClatchy-Tribune service for national syndication in newspapers in California, Florida, and Ohio. Also on Website Iran.com.
Shorter version, “For Thomas Jefferson, Muslims Were Part of American Vision,” invited by the Austin-American Statesman, January 25, 2014, http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/opinion/thomas-jefferson-treated-islam-other- religions-wit/nczRf/ry,
“Could a Muslim – or a Catholic or a Jew – Be President? A 1788 Constitutional Debate,” Not Even Past, UT Department of History, http://www.notevenpast.org/discover/could-muslim-or- catholic-or-jew-be-president-1788-constitutional debate, March 25, 2013
REVIEWS of Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an
Reviewed by The Daily Beast, September 29, 2013: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/29/thomas-jefferson-s-quran-how-islam-shaped- the-founders.html “Compelling, formidably documented. . . Spellberg’s book is essential reading in these troubled times.”
Reviewed by The San Francisco Chronicle, November 8, 2013: http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Thomas-Jefferson-s-Qur-an-by-Denise-Spellberg- 4968904.php “Wonderful. . . Spellberg provides valuable historical context for the struggle for religious tolerance and inclusion. In itself, her book constitutes a step toward inclusiveness in the ongoing construction of American history.”
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Reviewed by The New York Times Book Review, November 17, 2013: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/books/review/thomas-jeffersons-quran-by-denise-a- spellberg.html?_r=0 “Fascinating . . . . Revelatory . . . its “real achievement is in casting a coterie of founders – pre-eminently Jefferson, Madison, and Washington – in the unlikely role of radicals in their tolerance of Islam.”
Midwest Book Review, 2013: “an extraordinarily well written, researched, and seminal work that should be considered mandatory reading for anyone who believes America was founded to be a Christian nation to the denigration or exclusion of all other belief systems including Islam. Informed and informative, Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an: Islam and the Founders is a strongly recommended addition to both community and academic library American History collections, and is a unique and invaluable contribution to Jeffersonian Studies supplemental reading lists.”
“Briefly Noted” in The New Yorker, December 2, 2013.
Subject of Huffington Post blog by Kelly James Clark, “Muslims: (WWTJD) What Would Thomas Jefferson Do?” November 27, 2013: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-james- clark/muslims-wwjd_b_4317477.html “offers a fascinating and timely corrective to post-9/11 anti-Muslim bigotry.”
Interviews and Articles about Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an Interview with Becky Little, “Why the Quran was a Bestseller among Christians in 18th-Century America,” The History Channel web site, January 3, 2019, https://www.history.com/news/thomas-jefferson-quran-rashida-tlaib-keith-ellison
Quoted in interview with Dan Frosch, “Muslim GOP Leader Targeted by Party Activists in Texas: Where supporters of Shahid Shafi see bigotry, opponents see a ‘civil war’ over the Republican Party’s Values,” The Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/muslim-gop-leader-targeted-by-party-activists-in-texas- 11544783403
Quoted in interview with Richard Hetu, about Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and new legislation to allow her hijab on the floor of Congress “LE HIJAB FAIT SON ENTRÉE AU CONGRÈS,” LA PRESSE (MONTREAL, CANADA), NOVEMBER 24, 2018, HTTP://PLUS.LAPRESSE.CA/SCREENS/1A9667D1-5D55-4D3B-BA7B- 45BE91682F0F__7C___0.HTML?UTM_MEDIUM=EMAIL&UTM_CAMPAIGN=INTERNA L+SHARE&UTM_CONTENT=SCREEN
My scholarship on Muslim rights in American history cited repeatedly by John Nichols, “Our Founders Showed Greater Respect for Islam than Trump and the Supreme Court,” The Nation, https://www.thenation.com/article/founders-showed-greater-respect-islam-trump-supreme-court/, July 4, 2018.
As below, 2016, reposted by Elahe Izadi, as reposted by Elahe Izadi, as “The Long History of Defending Muslim Rights,” The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/06/26/thomas-jefferson-and-the-
8 long-history-of-defending-muslim-rights/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7fe0cac4acaa, June 26, 2018.
Interview with Maha Shahbah, about Islam and the Founders for Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram (Cairo, Egypt), November 4, 2016; http://www.ahram.org.eg/News/192074/83/559306/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%88% D8%A7%D8%B1/%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A8%D8%A9- %D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%81- %D8%AC%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A- %D8%AD%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B5- %D9%84%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9 %86%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%B3.aspx
Interview about Thomas Jefferson with Amir Telibechirowich, Bosnian journalist, for Bosnian magazine, Stav (Attitude),August 8, 2016, http://stav.ba/historicarka-denise-spellberg-autorica- knjige-kuran-thomasa-jeffersona-islam-i-osnivaci/
Interview with Afsin Yurdakul, for Turkish newspaper, Dunya (The World) section, in Gazete Haberturk, March 4, 2016, http://www.haberturk.com/dunya/haber/1204514-abd-anayasasini- yazarken-kurani-da-kaynak-aldilar
Interview on “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an” cited in Elahe Izadi, “Thomas Jefferson and the Fascinating History of Founding Fathers Defending Muslim Rights,” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/11/how-thomas-jefferson-and-other- founding-fathers-defended-muslim-rights/?utm_term=.7b95d28142b2, February 3, 2016.
“Our Founding Fathers Included Islam,” forward from my book posted at Salon.com on October 5, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/10/05/our_founding_fathers_included_islam/; re-posted by Salon on September 21, 2015
Featured article on my book in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “‘The Furthest Reaches of Tolerance’: A Scholar Explores the Founding Fathers’ Ambivalence toward Islam,” by Beth McMurtrie, October 7, 2013.
. Radio and TV Interviews about “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders,” 2013- 2019 *Interview with Amber Khan, for PBS “Interfaith Voices” radio program for President’s Day, a radio newsmagazine that is syndicated on 69 public and community radio stations in North America. “Jefferson’s Qur’an,” http://interfaithradio.org/Archive/2019- February/The_Faith_of_the_Presidents, February 15, 2019.
*Interview with Hania Yaqub, “Breakfast Show,” on “America and the Defense of Islam in Founding History,” Voice of Islam UK, radio show, July 11, 2018.
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*Interview with “Top of Mind with Julie Rose,” BYU (Brigham Young University) radio, Sirius Xm 143, online, http://www.byuradio.org/topofmind, on iTune, and podcast, October 2017,
*Interview with Fatima Salman, “Between the Lines,” WFDF, Radio Superstation 910, Detroit, Michigan, May 22, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtGNCtPuo_c&feature=youtu.be
*Interview with Ryan Lloyd, Web interview for KSAT TV, San Antonio, December 16, 2015; posted online *Interview with Samar Jarrah, “True Talk,” WMNF radio, Tampa Bay, Florida, December 18, 2015. *Interview based on my book by Elahe Izadi, “The Fascinating History of how Jefferson and other Founder Fathers defended Muslim rights,” The Washington Post, December 11, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/11/how-thomas- jefferson-and-other-founding-fathers-defended-muslim-rights/
*Interview for “A New Day for al-Islam in America,” WPAT NCY 930 AM, December 17, 2015.
* Interview on Thom Hartmann Show, Sirius XM Progress 127 radio, “How the Founding Fathers Fought for the Rights of Muslims,” December 14, 2015.
* “On Reaction to GOP Presidential Candidate Ben Carson’s Statements about Muslims,” for “Idea Stream,” WPCN (NPR) radio 90.3, Cleveland, Ohio, October, 2015
*Keynote address, “City Club,” NPR Radio nationally-syndicated address and luncheon, Cleveland, Ohio, May, 2014.
*“Islam and the Founders,” Kaleidoscope Islam podcast interview, Stanford University, November 2014, https://soundcloud.com/kaleidoscope-show/
*“American Presidential Views of Islam, from Washington to Obama,” by Sayed Goubial, based on email interview about my book, published in Arabic in al-Watan, Cairo, Egypt November 15, 2014. http://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/597462
*C-Span, American History Channel, Interview about “Islam in America,” broadcast from The annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Atlanta, 2014 (part of first-ever panel on Islam in America, which I chaired and organized)
*RadioIslam.com, WCEV 1450AM, Chicago, Illinois, 2014
*Podcast interview on Tim Danahey Show, Denver, Colorado, http://www.Danahey.com
*“Global Dynamics” with Inayet Wadee,” for Channel Islam International (Cii Radio), South Africa, 2013
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* “Airtalk with Larry Mantle,” Air Pacifica, KPFA, San Francisco, simulcast with SPFW, Washington, D.C., WBAI, New York, 2013
* “Radio HotPepper,” 1220 AM, Dallas, Texas, 2013 *“On Point,” WBUR, nationally syndicated NPR radio program, Boston, Massachusetts, 2013
* “All Things Considered, Weekend Edition with Arun Rath,” NPR. 2013
* “Not Even Past,” Podcast, History Department, University of Texas at Austin, now part of #1 ranked “Fifteen-Minute History,” 2013
*“Michelangelo Signorile Show,” Sirius XM Radio, 2013
* BBC World Service (radio interview), London, England, 2013
*“American Muslim 360 Radio,” AM360.org, 2013
*“MSNBC, TV interview with Craig Melvin, 2013
*Featured print interviews in al-Sharq al-Awsat (The Middle East) English, Arabic, and Urdu editions, 2013
*“Voice of the Cape Radio, with Shafiq Morton,” Cape Town, South Africa, 2013
*“Newstalk with Sean Moncrief,” Dublin, Ireland, 2013
* “Woodstock Roundtable,” with Doug Gunther,” Westchester, New York radio, 2013
*“Letters and Politics with Mitch Jeserich,” Southern California Public Radio, 2013
* “The Tavis Smiley Show,” PBS Radio, 2013
Government and Public Policy Service
*Brookings Institution Seminar to discuss the paper they commissioned, ““Laws of the Profit”: Language, Religion, and Money in the Founding Fathers’ Diplomacy with a Muslim Kingdom,” Washington, D.C., September 15, 2014.
*Teleconference with Bamako, Mali, invited by U.S. Department of State, for live discussion of Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an with local University students, March 24, 2014
“D.C. Café,” Interview with Voice of America, Pakistan, December 2013
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UNIVERSITY, COMMUNITY, and NATIONAL SERVICE
National Selection Committee ● Program Committee, American Historical Association, 2008
●Program Committee, Middle East Studies Association, 2001
International and National Academic Consulting
● Advisory Board, Journal of Islamic Research/Islamiarastirmalar, peer-reviewed, quarterly journal, based in Ankara, Turkey, 2019- present, https://www.islamiarastirmalar.com/en-index.html
● Consultant for 3-part PBS series on “Islam in America,” contacted by documentary film maker Graham Judd, May 2018
●Board of Advisors, National Museum of American Religion, Washington, D.C.
● Consultant on Islamic History Syllabi, International Baccalaureate Program, The Netherlands, January 2011
● Consultant, BBC-TV program on women in early Islamic history, 2010
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS Individual Research Grants
Public Voices Thought Leadership Fellowship, OpEd Project, The University of Texas at Austin, 2015-2016. “The OpEd Project was founded to increase the range of voices and the quality of ideas we hear in the world,” specializing in the nation-wide training of “underrepresented experts (especially women), to take thought leadership positions in their fields.”
Carnegie Foundation Scholarship for “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders,” academic year 2009-2010 and fall 2010 ($100,000)
Foreign Research Lectureship, École des Hautes Études (EHESS), Centre de Recherches Historiques, Paris, France, January 2004
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, for monograph on ‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr, 1992-93
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Faculty Seminar Fellowship, Harvard University (declined), 1990
Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship, Harvard University, 1989-90
Josephine de Karman Fellowship, 1989
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Pennar Fellowship, Columbia University, 1987-88
Whiting Fellowship, 1986-87 Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowship (declined) American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship (declined)
Social Science Research Council Dissertation Research Fellowship, 1985
Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, 1984-85 for research in Egypt, Turkey, Britain, Ireland, France, and Italy
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) in Turkish, 1983-84
American Numismatic Society Summer Fellowship, New York City, 1983
Fulbright-Hays Summer Fellowship in Advanced Turkish, Bogazici University, Turkey, 1982
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) in Arabic, 1981-82
President’s Fellowship, Columbia University, 1980-81
Fellowships at the University of Texas • Fellow, Institute for Historical Studies, 2018, fall semester • Fellow, Institute for Historical Studies, 2013, spring semester • Faculty Research Assignment, fall 2008 • Fellow, Humanities Institute, fall 2007, 2001 • Faculty Research Assignment, fall 2003 Institutional Program Grant • Ford Foundation Grant, Difficult Dialogues Teaching Initiative, designed to teach “Hot-button” topics to undergraduates, with an emphasis on the role and importance of Academic Freedom, Grant-writing Proposal Committee and Core Faculty ($100,000 for The University of Texas). Taught inaugural seminar “Islam in America,” 2006-08.
Professional Presentations (since 1996) ● “Saracens, Scimitars, and Camels: Islam and Race in European Medieval Manuscripts,” a panel sponsored by the International Center for Medieval Art for the Morgan Library Exhibition: “Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders,” at the Blanton Museum, The University of Texas at Austin, November 2019.
● “Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin: Enlightenment Ideals and Islam,” for the Summer Teacher Institute, “The Enlightenment as Global Phenomenon,” Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, August 2019.
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● “Two Men of Massachusetts: Religion, Race, and Immigration: U.S. Policy through the Eyes of a Jewish Judge and an Arab Citizen, 1924-1944,” pre-circulated paper and presentation for the Institute for Historical Studies, Department of History, the University of Texas at Austin, March 2019. ●Keynote address, “Islam in America,” invited by Southwestern University for their Muslims in Academia Symposium, Georgetown, Texas, March, 2019.
● “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders,” Islamic Studies Lecture, School of Arts and Humanities, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, February 2019.
● “The Global Reach of ‘A’isha bint Abi Bakr’s Life, from Medieval Islamic World to Early Modern North America,” for the panel “Early Women’s Voices,” at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, November 2018.
● Convened a gathering of Texas A&M University and Temple University faculty to discuss digital methodology and consortia projects relating to the study of Islam and slavery in America, University of Texas at Austin, May 2018.
● Global Citizenship Visiting Scholar at Texas Christian University. Delivered three lectures: a public lecture: “What Thomas Jefferson Learned – and Didn’t – From His Qur’an;” a lecture for undergraduates in Intro to Islam class, “The Qur’an in America,” and a lecture for Iranian History class, “Iranian Muslims as Global Citizens in the Context of American Islam,” Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, April 2018.
●Invited Commentator, Panel on “Religion, Politics, and Citizenship in the Early Republic,” Society for the History of the Early American Republic (SHEAR), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July, 2017.
●Invited panelist and co-convener for day-long Social Science Research Council (SSRC) symposium, “Situating the ‘Islamic’ in Relation to the ‘State,’” Brooklyn, New York, May 2017.
●Keynote lecture, “Islam in U.S. History: Founding American History Lessons in the Era of Trump,” Interdisciplinary Islamic Studies Seminar Annual Symposium, “Islamic Studies in the Trumpocene: Arts/Praxis/Ideas,” sponsored by Islamic Studies and the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, April 2017.
●Keynote lecture, “Islam and the Founders: Documenting Shared Spaces,” for the conference, “American and Muslim Worlds, 1500-1900,” sponsored by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and the Middle East Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 2017.
● Lecture, “Concepts of Light and Darkness in Islam,” invited for Roundtable on “History of Light and Darkness” at the Institute for Historical Studies, Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, September 2015.
●Invited lecture, “Thomas Jefferson’s Lifelong Engagement with Islam, and Why It
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Matters,” Department of History, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, April 2015.
●Invited lecture, “Thomas Jefferson and Islam,” sponsored by the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, March, 2015. ●Invited lecture, “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders,” sponsored by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University, November 2014.
●Invited lecture, “Thomas Jefferson’s View of Muslim Citizenship,” as part of lecture series “Debating America,” The McConnell Center’s Public Lecture Series, at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, November, 2014.
●Invited lecture, “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an,” for Fall for the Book Festival, sponsored by the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, September 2014.
●Lecture and discussion about my commissioned article, ‘Laws of the Profit’: Language, Religion, and Money in the Founding Fathers’ Diplomacy with a Muslim Kingdom,” for the Bookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, Washington, D.C., September, 2014.
●Invited paper, “Looking Backwards – and Forwards: American Historical Precedents about Islamophobia and the Golden Rule,” for Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s (ISPU) sponsored panel on “Islamophobia and Looking Forward,” at the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) Annual Meeting, Detroit, Michigan, August 2014.
●Skype discussion of my book, Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an, with undergraduate class about “Islam in America,” invited and taught by Dr. Aminah McCloud, Director of the Islamic World Studies Program at DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, June 2014.
●Delivered commencement address, “Toleration: Muslims, Jews, and Catholics in Early American Thought,” invited by the Near Eastern Studies Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, May 2014.
●Presented paper, “The Origins of American ‘Civil Rights’ for Muslims in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” at Organization of American Historians conference, April 2014, Atlanta, Georgia. Also panel organizer and chair.
●Invited lecture, “The European Origins of Muslim Civil Rights,” for the Seminar in Early Modern History, Department of History, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, April, 2014.
●Keynote address, “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an,” at the Twentieth Anniversary Celebration of the Center for the Humanities, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, April, 2014.
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●Keynote address, the Robert F. Berkey ’52 Endowed Lectureship, “Thomas Jefferson, Muslims, and the Golden Rule,” for the Religious Studies Department, Otterbein University, Columbus, Ohio, March 2014.
● Invited lecture, “The European Origins of American Muslim ‘Civil Rights’: A Transatlantic Tale,” for the European Union University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Florence, Italy, March 2014.
●Invited lecture, “European Origins of American Muslim ‘Civil Rights,” for CENA (Centre d’Études Nord-Americaines), at L’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, France, March 2014.
●Keynote lecture of the inaugural Chastain-Johnston Distinguished Lecture on Middle Eastern and Peace Studies, “Islam and the Founding Fathers,” at Florida Atlantic University, February 2014.
● Invited to present lecture, “Muslims, Toleration, and Civil Rights: Islam and the Early Modern Atlantic World,” for Conference Transcultural Lenses on Islam, sponsored by Religious Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and the Institute for Historical Studies, University of Texas, Austin Texas, February, 2014.
●Invited to present public lecture, “Thomas Jefferson and Islam,” Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Southern California, November, 2013.
● Invited public lecture entitled, “Thomas Jefferson and Islam: A Re-examination of Founding Precedents,” for the Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas, October, 2013, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
●Respondent for Dr. Carel Bertram, “Putting Historical Memory in Its Place: Armenian Journeys to Turkey to Find the Houses and Villages of a Lost Ottoman Past,” at the request of the Institute for Historical Study, University of Texas at Austin, October 2013.
● Presented paper entitled, “Muslims, Toleration, and Civil Rights, from Roger Williams to Thomas Jefferson,” at conference “No Person shall Bee Any Wise Molested: Religious Freedom, Cultural Conflict, and the Moral Role of the State,” sponsored by the Newport Rhode Island Historical Association, the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, Salve Regina University, the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom, the John Carter Brown Library, and Brown University, to mark the 350th anniversary of the 1663 Rhode Island Charter, October 4, 2013, Newport, Rhode Island.
●Presented paper entitled “U.S. Treaties, Their Problematic Translations, and U.S. Diplomatic Relations with North Africa: An Analysis of Eighteenth-Century Precedents and Their Twenty-First Century Implications for the Historiography of an Allegedly Eternal Islamic Terrorism,” at Rethinking Diplomacy Seminar, Institute for Historical Study, May 2013, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
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●Presented paper entitled, “Muslims as American Citizens: Eighteenth-Century Precedents and Twenty-First Century Problems,” at a Summit and Public Forum on Religious Diversity in America: The Muslim Experience, sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. October 2012 (Due to emergency surgery, paper read in absentia by Dr. Mervat Hatem, Howard University.)
●Invited participant at the Brookings Institution’s “U.S.-Islamic World Forum,” April 2011, Washington, D.C.
●Panel Discussant, “U.S.-Iranian Relations,” with Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, LBJ Library, University of Texas at Austin, April 2009.
● Presented paper, “Religion, Education, and Civic Identities: Who Is a Global Citizen?” invited by the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, Canada, 2009.
●Presented paper entitled, “Could a Muslim Be President?” at Beauty in the World of Islam Conference, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, April 2009.
●Presentation, “The ‘Other’ at Home: Islam in America,” Humanities Institute, University of Texas at Austin, November 2007
● Presented paper entitled, “Teaching Medieval Islamic History in a Global World,” Global Middle Ages Project (GMAP), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 2007.
●Presented paper entitled, “Could a Muslim Be President? The Atlantic View,” at Atlantic History: Soundings, Tenth-Anniversary Conference of the International Seminar on the History of the Atlantic World, August 2005, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
●Presented seminar paper entitled, “The Wives of the Prophet and Modern Controversy,” for École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Centre de Recherches Historiques, January 2004, Paris, France.
●Presented public lecture entitled, “The Women of the Prophet’s Family: Medieval and Modern Interpretations,” Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, November 2004, Berkeley, California.
●Presented paper entitled, “Islam in Early American Thought: A Forgotten History,” at Conference on Islam and Muslims in America, University of California, Berkeley, California, April 2003. (Read in absentia by Dr. Carel Bertram, San Francisco State University.)
●Presented paper entitled, “Conceptualizing Islam in Early American Thought,” at Middle East Studies Association, November 2002, Washington, D.C.
●Presented paper at Public Forum on Gender and Diversity, “Gender in the Hadith and Qur’an,” Gender and Women’s Studies Program, January 2002, University of Texas at Austin.
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●Presented paper entitled, “Inventing Matamoras: Gender and the Islamic Past in the United States of America,” at conference on Gender on the Borderlands, July 2001, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas.
●Presented paper entitled, ““Voltaire’s Mahomet and the Unintended Consequences of Its Theatrical Performance in Britain, Ireland, and America,” at the American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies, panel sponsored by the Voltaire Society of America, April 2001, New Orleans, Louisiana.
●Presented paper entitled, “Islam on the Eighteenth-Century Stage: Voltaire’s Mahomet as a Transatlantic Case Study in the History of Ideas,” for the International Seminar on the History of the Atlantic World, August 2000, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
●Presented paper entitled, “Gender and Power: The Perilous Geography of Proximity in Medieval Islam,” International Congress of Medieval Studies, May 1999, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
●Presented public lecture, “Islam on Stage: Voltaire’s Mahomet in Eighteenth-Century England and America,” Center for Middle Eastern Studies, April 1999, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
●Presented public lecture, “The Role of Medieval Islamic Religio-Political Sources in Shaping Modern Debate on Gender,” February 1998, The Divinity School, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut, and Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
●Presented paper, “Sources for the Study of Muslim Women: Qur’an and Hadith,” at Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, April 1996, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C.
Organized, Plenary, and Chaired Panels
●Organized and chaired panel entitled, “Islam in America: The Transatlantic Transfer of Ideas about Muslim Rights, Islamic Philosophy, Houris, and Mosque Controversies” at the invitation of the Program Committee of the Organization of American Historians accepted for annual conference April 2014, Atlanta, Georgia. (First-ever panel on Islam in America at OAH).
● Invited Plenary Panel Speaker, “Adventures in Neo-Orientalism: Islam in America,” for the international panel on “Orientalism,” Middle East Studies Association, November 2008, Washington, D.C.
●Chair, “Narrative Strategies and the Subversion of Authority in Medieval Islamic History,” Middle Eastern Studies Association, November 2007, Montreal, Canada; panel
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●Co-organizer, panel chair, and summary discussant for “Women of the Book: The Changing Face of Feminism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, A Multi-Disciplinary International Conference,” November 1998, University of Texas at Austin.
●Chair and organizer, “Gender and Medieval Islam,” Middle East Studies Association, November, 1991, Washington, D.C., panel comprised of my UT graduate students in History and Middle Eastern Studies.
TEACHING AWARDS
●Leslie Waggener Centennial Teaching Fellowship, for Honors Program advising, 2017
●Harry Ransom Teaching Award, for Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction, 2006
●Dad’s Centennial Teaching Fellowship for Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction, 2003
●History Department Teaching Award, 2002.
●President’s Associates Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award in History, 1996-97
TEACHING AWARD NOMINATIONS
●Nominated for the Blunk Professorship, October 2016
● Nominated for the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, September 2013
●Nominated for the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, 2008, 2007
●Nominated for the Blunk Teaching Award, 2005
●Nominated for the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, 2003
●Finalist for the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, 2002
●Nominated for the Harry Ransom Teaching Award, 1991
UNDERGRADUATE COURSES: Lectures: Muslims in America: A Survey of Religion, Race, Gender, and Immigration (fall 2020) cross- listed with History, Islamic Studies, American Studies, Religious Studies, upper-division lecture
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Introduction to the Middle East: Religious, Cultural, Historical Foundations, 570-1453 (taught annually in the fall as requirement for Middle Eastern Studies majors), introductory large lecture Islamic Spain and North Africa to 1492, cross-listed with History, Islamic Studies, Religious Studies History of Iran to 1800 History of the Ancient Middle East to the Rise of Islam
Undergraduate Seminars: Islam in the History of the United States: Gender, Race, Slavery, and Immigration, taught annually Toleration: European and American Debates about Muslims in Society (Plan II Honors, 2015) Islam in America: Difficult Dialogues, for the Ford Foundation Program, inaugural program for freshman and sophomores (2006-2008) Seminar in Historiography, for the History Honors Program (taught annually as requirement for History Honors juniors) The Women of the Prophet’s Family Gender and Medieval Islamic History Medieval Islam: Faith and History
GRADUATE SEMINARS Islam in Europe and America: Approaches to Interdisciplinary Methodology Islam, Narrative, and Slavery Medieval Islamic Historiography Gender and Islamic History: Medieval and Modern Debates Sacred Biography: The Women of the Prophet’s Family Geographies of the Medieval Imagination: Islam and Travel Narratives, for Medieval Studies, a team-taught course, with Dr. Geraldine Heng, Department of English Global Interconnections of Medieval Cultures, from China to Europe, team-taught for Medieval Studies with Dr. Geraldine Heng (English)and other colleagues in the Asian Studies and History Department; I taught the Islamic component of the course.
Recent Community and UT Invited Guest Lectures, since 1999 ●Texas Black Muslims Alliance, “‘A’isha and Fatima: What’s in a Name? The Resonance of Founding Muslim Women’s Names in Early American Documents about Islam and Slavery,” October 2019. ●Telephone interview with students at Nashoba Brooks School, Concord, Massachusetts, on “Religion and the Founders,” requested for their C-Span Student Web Cam Documentary Competition, January 2019. ● Organized and chaired a panel of former Honors Students’ Research for 130th Anniversary of the History Department Celebration, The University of Texas at Austin, November 2018. ●Fund-raising invited lecture on Islam in America for potential donors to the Islamic Studies Program Initiative of the Religious Studies Department, The University of Texas, The Woodlands, Texas, October 2018.
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●Invited Skype class discussion of Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders with advanced Civics class of Dr. Kristin Tassin at Episcopal School of Arcadiana, Lafayette, Louisiana, April 2018. ●Invited lecture, ”Writing ‘A’isha’s Life: Problems with Narrative in Medieval Islamic History,” for the Middle Eastern Studies Gateway course, November 2017. ● Invited panelist, “Politics, Power, and the Periphery: Responses to the Recent Poll of Texas Muslims,” sponsored by the Middle East Graduate Student Association, The University of Texas, April 2017. ● “How to Handle Hot Moments in the Classroom: An Incident from ‘Islam in America: Difficult Dialogs,” invited presentation for CD/GC Flags Faculty Lunch Series: Current Events & Teaching Moments,” School of Undergraduate Studies, University of Texas at Austin, November 2016. ● Keynote lecture, “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders,” sponsored by Masjidullah Qur’anic Studies Class and Universal Muslim Business Association, a luncheon during Democratic National Convention Week, hosted by City Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr., Philadelphia City Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 2016. ● Guest Speaker, “The Qur’an in American History,” for series on Islam, St. David’s Episcopal Church, Austin, Texas, July 2016. ● Induction celebration lecture, “Thomas Jefferson, Muslims, and the Golden Rule,” Phi Alpha Theta (National History Honors Society), University of Texas at Austin, February 2016. ● Keynote lecture for CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) Annual Banquet, St. Louis, Missouri, November 2015. ● Invited lecture for undergraduate Middle Eastern Studies Gateway lecture course, “Writing the Life of the Prophet’s Wife, ‘A’isha,” November 2015. ●Invited lecture on “Islam in American Politics: Past and Present,” invited guest lecture for Religious Studies course “Christianity, Judaism, and Islam,” taught by Dr. A. Azfar Moin on November 2015. ● Hamilton Book Award Authors Showcase, Lecture on Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an, sponsored by the Perry Castaneda Library and the University Co-op, University of Texas, April, 2015. ●Q &A with the Islamic Studies Book Club, Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an, sponsored by the Islamic Studies Program, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, April, 2015. ●Led discussion about my book, Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an, for Dr. Julie Hardwick’s undergraduate seminar, “Thinking like a Historian,” University of Texas, March 2015. ●Led seminar on teaching Islam/Middle Eastern history for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers in Kentucky public schools (Teacher Scholars Program), sponsored by the McConnell Center, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, November 2014.
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● Led seminar on “Muslims, Catholics, and Jews: Debate on the Abolition of a Religious Test in the U.S. Constitution, 1788,” for McConnell Scholars Program for undergraduates, University of Louisville, Kentucky, November 2014. ●Invited Participant, Campus Conversation Faculty Symposium on Research and Undergraduate Teaching, University of Texas, September, 2014 ●Keynote address, “Thomas Jefferson and Muslim Civil Rights,” for Annual Banquet of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Houston, Texas, June 2014. ●Keynote address, “Thomas Jefferson and Muslim Civil Rights,” for the 12th Annual Banquet of the Cleveland chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Cleveland, Ohio, May 2104.
●Keynote address, “Islam in Early America,” at “City Club,” NPR Radio nationally- syndicated address and luncheon, Cleveland, Ohio, May, 2014.
●Keynote address, “Islam and the Founders,” invited by the Islamic Speakers Bureau, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2014.
● “Ideal Muslim Female Figures Then and Now: How They Compare to Women in the New Testament,” lecture and discussion for Moebius, Church of the Master United Methodist Church, Westerville, Ohio, March 2014.
● “Could a Muslim Be President? An Eighteenth-Century Constitutional Debate,” Open Classroom for Undergraduates, Otterbein University, Columbus, Ohio, March 2014.
●”The Origins of Muslim Civil Rights,” for Learning Activities for Mature People (LAMP), UT Adult Extension Program, March 2014.
● “A 1788 Constitutional Debate about Whether a Muslim Can Be President,” Guest Lecture for Dr. Syed Akbar Hyder’s “Introduction to Islam,” Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas, November 2013.
● “Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and America’s Founding Fathers,” for Reviving the Islamic Spirit Conference, Toronto, Canada. December 2013.
●“Thomas Jefferson, Islam, and the Origin of Muslim Civil Rights,” Muslim Students Association (MSA), UT, February 2013.
●“Thomas Jefferson and Islam,” Learning Activities for Mature People (LAMP), UT Extension Learning Program, Austin, Texas, April 2010
●“Could a Muslim Be President?” Muslim Students Association (MSA), University of Texas at Austin, October 2009
●Faculty Leader, “Islam in America,” Texas Humanities Institute’s Public School Teachers as Scholars Program, taught 2-day seminar, May 2009
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●“The Evil Eye: What Muslims, Christians, and Jews All Feared the Most – and Why,” for “Come Back to Garrison Hall Celebration,” History Department, University of Texas at Austin, January 2008
●Faculty Leader, Seminar on “Tolerance and Violence among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Islamic Spain”, Texas Humanities Institute’s Public School Teachers as Scholars Program, taught two-day seminar, May 2005
●Commentator, “Muhammad: Legacy of the Prophet: A PBS Documentary,” Islamic Dialog Student Association, University of Texas at Austin, September 2004
●Guest Speaker, “Convivencia in Medieval Spain: Violence and Tolerance among Christians, Muslims, and Jews,” and “The Evil Eye: The Fear Factor in Mediterranean Monotheisms,” Continuing Ed, University of Texas at Austin, March 2003
● Guest speaker, “The Evil Eye: The Fear Factor among Muslims, Christians, and Jews,” Medieval Studies Program for the Explore UT, University of Texas at Austin, March 2003
●Faculty Leader, Seminar on “Tolerance and Violence among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Islamic Spain”, Texas Humanities Institute’s Public School Teachers as Scholars Program, taught two-day seminar May 2003
● Guest speaker, “The Importance of Islamic Culture in the History of Texas,” for the “The New Texas Seminar,” Connexus Program, University of Texas at Austin, September 2002
●Guest speaker, “Islam and Religious Freedom in the View of Certain Baptists, Then and Now,” Conference on the Anniversary of 9/11, Islamic Dialog Student Association, University of Texas at Austin, September 2002
●Guest Speaker, “Islam on Stage during the American Revolution,” Sons of the American Revolution, Patrick Henry Chapter, Austin, Texas, April 2002
●Guest Speaker, “The Islamic Example of Religious Tolerance in Medieval Spain: The Importance of Convivencia,” Learning Activities for Mature People (LAMP), Extension School, University of Texas at Austin, April 2002
●Moderator, “Memory and Invention in Women’s History,” Ninth-Annual Graduate Student Gender Conference, University of Texas at Austin, March 2002
●Guest Speaker, “Enlightenment Beliefs about Islam,” Tejas Club, University of Texas at Austin, February 2002
●Guest Speaker, “Islam and Women: The Basics,” Texas Conference on Women, sponsored by Governor Rick Perry, Austin, Texas, October 2001
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●Guest Speaker, “Islam on Stage during the American Revolution,” University History Society, University of Texas at Austin, October 2001
●Guest Speaker, “Muhammad: Past and Present,” Learning Activities for Mature People (LAMP), UT Extension Learning Program, Austin, Texas, February 2000
●Guest Speaker, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Islamic History (Almost),” University History Society, University of Texas at Austin, February 2000
●Guest Speaker on panel, “Women and Academe,” Liberal Arts Council, University of Texas at Austin, February 1999
Departmental and College Committees ●Director, Honors Program, Department of History; Undergraduate Scholarship Committee, History Department; Ferguson and Segre History Honors Prize Awards Committee, Department of History; Committee on the 130th Anniversary of the History Department; Dr. Yoav Di-Capua’s promotion to full professor committee, History Department; FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship) selection committee, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, 2018-19; Graduate Studies Committee, Department of Religious Studies; Outside letter for Dr. Carel Bertram for promotion to Full Professor, Humanities Department, San Francisco State University, 2018-19; Outside letter for Dr. Ruqayya Khan promotion to full professor, Religious and Islamic Studies, Claremont Graduate University, 2019; American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), Fellowship Selection Committee, University of California, Berkeley, February 2019 ●Director, Honors Program, Department of History; Chair, FII Ottoman Search, Department of History; College of Liberal Arts Merit Scholarship Committee; History Department Undergraduate Scholarship Committee; Ferguson and Segre History Honors Prize Awards Committee; History Department’s 130th Anniversary, Department of History; University of Texas Libraries Committee (could not attend Fall 2017 due to conflict with teaching schedule); Islamic Studies Steering Committee, Department of Middle Eastern Studies; Outside tenure promotion letter for Dr. Faiz Ahmed, Department of History, Brown University, 2017-18 ● Director, Honors Program, Department of History; College of Liberal Arts Merit Scholarship Committee; History Department Undergraduate Scholarship Awards Committee; Ferguson and Segre History Honors Prize Awards Committee; Peer Teaching Observation Committee for Dr. Daina R. Berry for Promotion; Military History Search Committee; FII Early Modern Search Committee; University of Texas Libraries Committee; Islamic Studies Steering Committee, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, 2016-17 ● Director, Honors Program, Department of History; College of Liberal Arts Merit Scholarship Committee; History Department Undergraduate Scholarship Awards Committee; Ferguson and Segre History Honors Prize Awards Committee; Assessment Committee, Department of History; University of Texas Libraries Committee; Islamic
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Studies Steering Committee, Department of Middle Eastern Studies; Research letter for promotion to tenure for A. Azfar Moin, Religious Studies Department, University of Texas at Austin, 2015-16 ●Director, Honors Program, Department of History; Ferguson and Segre History Honors Prize Awards Committee; Islamic Studies Steering Committee, Department of Middle Eastern Studies; Assessment Committee, History, Department; COLA Merit Scholarship Committee, College of Liberal Arts; History Undergraduate Scholarship Awards Committee, 2014-15
●Graduate Program Committee, Department of History, 2012-2014
●Chair of Asia, Africa, Middle East Area Committee, Department of History; Steering Committee, Institute for Historical Studies; Littlefield Lectures Committee, 2011-12
●Graduate Admissions Committee, History Department; Third Year Review, J. Wilson, 2008-09
●”Difficult Dialogues,” Steering Committee for Ford Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Committee, College of Liberal Arts; Promotion and Tenure Peer Teaching Letter Committee, Department of History; Third Year Review Committee for Yoav Di-Capua, 2007-08
●Executive Committee, Department of History; “Difficult Dialogues,” Steering Committee for Ford Foundation Undergraduate Teaching Initiative, College of Liberal Arts; Promotion and Tenure Peer Teaching Letter for M. Neuburger, 2006-2007
●Executive Committee, Department of History; “Difficult Dialogues Grant-Writing Committee, College of Liberal Arts; Scholarly Activities Grant Committee, History; Third-Year Review and Faculty Mentor Policy Committee, History; Department Representative for Writing across the Curriculum Committee, College of Liberal Arts, 2005-06
●Writing across the Curriculum Steering Committee, College of Liberal Arts; Islamic Studies Search Committee, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, 2004-05
●Chair of Asia, Africa, Middle East Committee, Department of History; Interim Executive Committee, Middle Eastern Studies; Iberian Search Committee, History; Third Year Review Committee for R. Hart; Substantial Writing Component Steering Committee; Core Faculty, Tracking Cultures Study Abroad Program; 2003-04
●Graduate Admissions Committee; Promotion and Teaching Evaluation for C. Castiglione; History Department Teaching Awards Committee; Interim Executive Committee, Department of Middle Eastern Studies; Core Faculty, Tracking Cultures Study Abroad Program, 2002-03
●Graduate Admissions Committee, Department of History; Lathrop Prize Committee; Core Faculty, Tracking Cultures Study Abroad Program, 2001-02
●Graduate Admissions Committee, Department of History; Lathrop Prize Committee; Core Faculty, Tracking Cultures Study Abroad Program, 2001-2000
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●Promotion and Tenure Teaching Evaluation Committee for C. Talbot; Advisory Committee, Mediterranean Crossroads Program; Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 1999-2000
● Executive Committee, Center for Middle Eastern Studies; Ad Hoc Salary Committee, Department of History; Core Faculty, Tracking Cultures Study Abroad Program, 1998-99
●Advisory Committee for Religious Studies Program; Core Faculty, Tracking Cultures Study Abroad Program, 1997-2000
●Promotion and Tenure Teaching Evaluation Committee for A. Ramsey, 1997-98
Ad Hoc Manuscript Reviewer
● Bloomsbury Publishing (London, England)
● Cambridge University Press
● Columbia University Press
● Oxford University Press
● University of California at Berkeley Press
●University of North Carolina Press
● University of Texas at Austin Press
● University of Notre Dame Press
● University of Kansas Press
● Lynne Rienner Press
●University Press of America
● International Journal of Middle East Studies
● Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History
● Journal of the Early Republic
● Journal of Law and Religion
● Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Memberships
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● American Historical Association
● Middle East Studies Association
Research Languages
● Arabic, modern and classical
●Ottoman and modern Turkish
● French
● Spanish
● Italian
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