The Center for Middle East Studies offers political expertise, curricular and co-curricular programs with the Institute for Comparative and Regional Studies (ICRS). It supports the study and understanding of the societies, political systems, and international relations of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The CMES organizes conferences, community learning, courses on the Middle East, student exchange programs, and a student-led club. Its mission of advancing understanding of the Middle East goes beyond the University to include scholars, policy-makers, and the interested public in Denver and throughout the Rocky Mountain region. A specific focus of the Center's work is the relationship between human rights and geopolitics in the Middle East and North Africa.
Tamra Pearson d'Estrée Associate Professor, Josef Korbel School
Research Interests: Identity dimensions of intergroup conflicts, peacebuilding, Track Two diplomacy, processes for intergroup conflict resolution, particularly in the Middle East, Anatolia, and the Caucasus; integration of Muslim immigrants into communities in Europe, the U.S. and New Zealand.
Jonathan Sciarcon Associate Professor, Department of History
Research Interests:Pre-modern and modern Middle East, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, Israel/Palestine, American cultural and political engagement with Israel.
Zahra Takhshid Assistant Professor of Law, Sturm College of Law
Research Interests:Torts, contracts, privacy, social media, technology, and the law. Additionally, how to use tools from torts and contracts in resolving challenges with emerging technological developments. A second strand of her interest is Islamic and comparative law.
Carole Woodall Associate Professor, Department of History
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Research Interests: Modern Middle Eastern history, late-Ottoman and early Turkish republican history, sensory, cultural, and urban history of the Middle East.
