Georgetown University: School of Foreign Service in Qatar

Georgetown has named Mehran Kamrava as interim dean of the School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar (SFS-Qatar). Starting Aug. 1, Kamrava will succeed the current SFS-Qatar Dean James Reardon-Anderson, who will return to Main Campus in Washington as the Sun Yat-Sen Professor of Chinese Studies.

Widely regarded as a leading expert on the politics of Iran and the Middle East, Kamrava joined the SFS-Qatar in 2007 as a visiting professor and director of the Center of International and Regional Studies. Prior to joining the faculty at Georgetown, Kamrava served as professor and chair of the political science department at California State University in Northridge, California.

“We're delighted that Mehran Kamrava has agreed to serve as the interim dean at SFS-Qatar,” said SFS Dean Robert L. Gallucci. “He will bring both substantial administrative and leadership skills and a record of successful teaching and productive scholarship to the position—I know that the school will be in the best of hands during the coming year,” adds Gallucci. 

Kamrava has authored a number of journal articles and books, including “Iran’s Intellectual Revolution” (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and “The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since the First World War” (University of California Press, 2005). He also has edited “The New Voices of Islam: Rethinking Politics and Modernity” (University of California Press, 2006) and co-edited “Iran Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Islamic Republic”(Greenwood Press, 2008)

“For many of us here, SFS-Qatar has been synonymous with Jim Reardon-Anderson. I do not need to recount Jim’s countless accomplishments at SFS-Qatar, but perhaps his biggest accomplishment has been to lay solid foundations to which others can add,” Kamrava said.  “I am honored by this appointment and confident that we will continue the tradition of excellence for which this institution has become justifiably famous.”

The SFS-Qatar campus is the fifth major U.S. university to settle into the Qatar Foundation’s Education City. As a branch of the Walsh School of Foreign Service on the Georgetown’s Main Campus in Washington, SFS-Qatar offers the same undergraduate degree program as that in Washington. Opened in 2005, the program accepts 50 students from the Middle East and around the world.  Students who enroll in SFS-Qatar follow an interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum that focuses on international affairs but covers a wide range of disciplines including government, history, economics, philosophy, theology, and literature. 

A search for the permanent dean of SFS-Qatar dean will begin later this year for appointment in 2010.