Juan R. I. Cole Professor of History 1029 Tisch Hall University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1003 Voice: (734) 764-6305, 763-1599 FAX (734) 747-4811

Juan R. I. Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. For three decades, he has sought to put the relationship of the West and the Muslim world in historical context. His most recent book is Engaging the Muslim World (Palgrave Macmillan, March, 2009) and he also recently authored Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) and many other works. He has translated works of Lebanese-American author Kahlil Gibran. He has been a regular guest on PBS's Lehrer News Hour, and has also appeared on ABC Nightly News, Nightline, the Today Show, Charlie Rose, Anderson Cooper 360, Rachel Maddow, the Colbert Report, Democracy Now! and many others. He has given many radio and press interviews. He has written widely about Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and South Asia. He has commented extensively on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the Iraq War, the politics of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Iranian domestic struggles, the Arab Spring and its aftermath, and foreign affairs. He has a regular column at Salon.com. He continues to study and write about contemporary Islamic movements, whether mainstream or radical, whether Sunni and Salafi or Shi`ite. Cole commands Arabic, Persian and Urdu and reads some Turkish, knows both Middle Eastern and South Asian Islam. He lived in various parts of the Muslim world for nearly 10 years, and continues to travel widely there. A bibliography of his writings may be found here.

Education

1975   B.A. History and Literature of Religions, Northwestern University

1978   M.A. Arabic Studies/History, American University in Cairo

1984   Ph.D. Islamic Studies, University of California Los Angeles

Professional History

1984-1990   Assistant Professor of History, University of Michigan

1990-1995   Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan

1992-1995   Director, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan

1995-2007   Professor of History, University of Michigan

2007-   Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, University of Michigan

2009-2012 Director, Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan

2012-2013 Director, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan


Scholastic Awards and Grants
; Collegiate Professorship, College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan, 2008-
; James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, Hunter College, 2005.
; Hudson Research Professorship, Winter, 2003
; Award for Research in Turkey, May, 1999, International Institute, U-M
; Research Excellence Award, College of LSA, U-M, August, 1997
; OVPR and LSA Faculty Assistance Fund Grants, June, 1995
; LSA Faculty Assistance Fund Grant, March 1994
; Rackham Research Partnership, 1992-93
; National Endowment for the Humanities, Jan.-June, 1991
; Office of the Vice-President for Research, U-M (Pakistan), Summer 1990
; Horace H. Rackham Faculty Grant, Egypt, Summer 1988
; SSRC/ACLS Post-Doctoral Award, England, Summer 1986
; Fulbright-Hays Islamic Civilization Postdoctoral Award, Egypt, 1985-86
; SSRC/ACLS Doctoral Fellowship, Pakistan, India, UK, 1981-83
; Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Fellowship, India, 1982

At the University of Michigan, he teaches courses on the modern history of the Middle East and on South Asia. He regularly teaches History 241, America and Middle Eastern Wars. He also offers a survey, History 443 Modern Middle East History. For graduate students he offersr History 664 Studies on the Modern Middle East, History 749 Seminar on the Modern Middle East, and History 793 The Study of the Near East, and has co-taught History 615 Comparative World History.

Recent National Service

• Editorial Board, International Affairs, Chatham House, London. (2008 - )
  
• Editorial Board, Political Science Quarterly. (2008- )
  
• Middle East Studies Association of North America:
  
  • President, 2006.
    • 1999-2004. Editor, The International Journal of Middle East Studies (Published by Cambridge University Press for the Middle East Studies Association of North America).
    • 1998 Program Committee chair, MESA annual conference
    • 1996, 1989 Officer Nominating Committee
      
    • 1991, Book Award Committee, Middle East Studies Association
      
    • 1988-1992 Book Review Editor, International Journal of Middle East Studies
      
• Society for Iranian Studies
  Council, 1987-1989
  Editorial Board, 1991-
  
  Other
  
  • 2003- Editor, H-Mideast-Politics Electronic Forum.
    
  • 1997- Editor, H-Bahai Electronic Forum and Journal
    
  • 1995-2000 Editorial Board, Critique
  • 1993-1996 Social Science Research Council: Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East
    
  • 1993 Columbia University, Middle East Institute: Outside Reviewer.
    
  • 1992-1994 Eastern Consortium of Middle East Centers: Chairman, Persian-Turkish Summer Programs
    
  • 1992-1995 American Institute of Iranian Studies: Board of Directors
    
  • 1992 American Council of Learned Societies: Fellowship Selection Committee
    

The Coles were originally the Kohls, from the County of Hessen-Darmstadt, and had a connection to the lumber business there. For more on the Cole genealogy click here. They emigrated to the U.S. around 1830, settling in Pennsylvania as dairy farmers. A branch moved south to Winchester, Virginia, late in the nineteenth century. They intermarried with the Hills and the Largents. His maternal line, the McIlwees and Rudolphs, had along history in the Shenandoah Valley, where Cole has roots. He did not spend much time there. Rather, he grew up in a peripatetic military family that happened to be in Albuquerque, N.M., when he was born, and had two long tours in France (a total of seven years) and one 18-month stay at Kagnew Station, in Asmara, Eritrea (then Ethiopia), and which lived all over the U.S. After going to Northwestern and becoming interested in Islamics and the Middle East, he went on to live six years in the Arab world, and another two and a half in South Asia (India and Pakistan, mainly Delhi, Lucknow and Lahore). He writes primarily about three broad areas: the social and cultural history of modern Egypt; the religious and cultural history of modern Iran and Iraq; and religion in South Asia. His hobbies include reading literary novels and science fiction, learning languages, bicycling, and the internet and the information revolution. He married the former Shahin Malik in Lahore in 1982, and they have one son, Arman, born in 1987.

WebMaster: Juan R.I. Cole