Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies Faculty
The Department of Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies (MEAMS) is home to a dynamic and diverse community of teachers and scholars from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds. The teaching and research of our faculty address key areas of global importance. We are further set apart by the sheer range of our expertise: from the ancient Mediterranean to the modern Arab, Persian, and Turkish speaking worlds, from language and literature to archaeology and material culture.
MEAMS faculty members bring their varied expertise to bear not only in developing their own personal research agendas but also in creating curricular synergy, thereby involving students and colleagues in broad and meaningful conversations about why the Mediterranean world (broadly construed) matters so much today.
Follow the links below for more detailed information.
Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Research Interests
- Greek and Roman History
- Ancient Mediterranean
- Late Antiquity
Hilary Becker
hbecker@binghamton.eduResearch Interests
- Roman Economy and Materiality
- Pigments
- Etruscan Archaeology
- Latin and Etruscan epigraphy
Jeffrey Becker
beckerj@binghamton.eduResearch Interests
- Mediterranean archaeology
- Italo-Roman architecture and urbanism
- Ancient geography
Tina Chronopoulos
Associate Professor
Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Associate Professor/Chair
Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Research Interests
- Greek and Latin Hagiography
- 11th- and 12th-cent. Medieval Latin literature
- Reception of Classical Latin Literature in the medieval period
Teaching Interests
- Medieval Latin Literature
- Latin language and literature, incl. active use of Latin
- Hagiography
- Reception of Greco-Roman Antiquity in the USA
Carina de Klerk
cdeklerk@binghamton.eduResearch Interests
- Archaic and Classical Greek poetry
- Theatre and performance
- Reception studies
- Language pedagogy
Teaching Interests
- Greek and Latin language and literature
- Classical Mythology
- Classical Reception
John Starks, Jr., Jr.
jstarks@binghamton.eduResearch Interests
- Greek and Roman Comedy (theater history, performance, gender)
- Non-"Western" Ethnicity around the Ancient Mediterranean, esp. Africa and the Levant
- Hellenistic and Roman Social History
- Greek and Latin Epigraphy
- Roman Historiography (including Greek historians of Rome) and Classical Biography
Teaching Interests
- Women in Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome
- Race and Ethnicity in Ancient North Africa
- Cleopatra: The Last Pharaoh
- Satire from Rome to Colbert
- Ancient Comedy in Performance
- Women in Ancient Theater
- The "Other" in Latin Comedy
- Celtic and "Germanic" Ethnicity in Latin Historians
- Greek and Roman Biography
- Democracy Inaction: Ancient Greek Comedy and American TV Satire
- Greek Songs of Life and Love
- All levels of Latin and Ancient Greek
Andrew Scholtz
Associate Professor/Undergraduate Director AMS
Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
Research Interests
- The Passions 一 Especially Desire and Envy 一 in the Ancient Mediterranean World
- The Social Psychology of Greek Rhetoric
- Intersections of Ancient Greek & Roman Sexuality, Ideology, Politics and Literature
- Literary Theory
Middle East Studies
Ahmad Ayyad
Assistant Professor of Translation Studies
Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP)
Research Interests
- Translation in conflict and war zones
- Political discourse analysis
- Translation and media
- Subtitling and politics
- Palestinian literature in translation
Teaching Interests
- Translation theories and practice
- Translation technology
- Palestinian literature and culture
Farida Badr, PhD
fbadr@binghamton.eduResearch Interests
- Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language
- Educational Technology
- Egyptology
- Applied Linguistics
- Translation
- Academic Assessment and Placement
Teaching Interests
- Novice Arabic
- Intermediate Arabic
- Advanced Arabic
- Egyptian and Levantine Dialects
- Media Arabic
- Arabic Cinema
- Arabic for Healthcare Professionals
- Business Arabic
- Introduction to Egyptology
- Arabic for Specific Purposes
- Arab Cultures in Global Context
Omid Ghaemmaghami
omid@binghamton.eduResearch Interests
- History and literature of the Bábà and Bahá’à religions
- Islamic intellectual history
- The Quran and its interpretation
- Arabic grammar
Research Interests
- Turkish Linguistics
- Theoretical Linguistics (morphosyntax)
Teaching Interests
- Elementary Turkish
- Intermediate Modern Turkish
- Modern Turkish Literature in Translation
- Turkish Media and Pop Culture
- Ottoman Turkish
Mary Youssef
Associate Professor/Undergraduate Director - Middle East Studies
Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
TRIP Courtesy Title
Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP)
Research Interests
- The Contemporary Egyptian Novel
- Modern Arabic Literature
- Arab Diasporic Literature
- African Literature
- Postcolonial Studies
- Migration Studies
- Race Studies
- Gender Studies
Teaching Interests
- Modern Arabic Literature
- Arab American and Diasporic Literature
- Postcolonial Theory
- Translation Theory
- The Arabic Language
Affiliated Faculty
Affiliated faculty members from departments across campus regularly teach courses cross-listed with Middle East and Ancient Mediterranean Studies.
Research Interests
- Arabic Culture and Language
- North African Studies
- Popular Culture
- Islamic Studies
- Medieval Western Mediterranean Studies
Teaching Interests
- Arabic Culture and Language
- Islam in Africa and the Mediterranean
- North African Youth Culture
- M. Eastern and North African Literature
- Orientalism
Research Interests
- Ancient Greek Philosophy
- Aesthetics and Performance
- 19th and 20th century Continental and American Philosophy
- Latin American Philosophy
Teaching Interests
- Introduction to Philosophy
- Plato and Aristotle
- Platonic and Socratic Mimesis (graduate class spring 2021)
- Philosophy as a Way of Life (fall 2021)
- Thinking Performance (fall 2022)
- Philosophy and Comedy (spring 2023)
- The Stoics and Politics (fall 2023)
- Latin American Philosophy (fall 2024)
Lubna Omar
lubna@binghamton.eduResearch Interests
- Zooarchaeology
- Cultural Heritage
Teaching Interests
- ANTH 373/480Z/583C: Zooarchaeology/Methods in Zooarchaeology
- ANTH 280: Cooking up the Past
- ANTH 374: Archaeology of the Middle East
- ANTH 382C: Cultural Heritage in Crisis
Research Interests
- Ancient Greek philosophy
- ancient biological and medical science
- medical ethics
- medieval philosophy
Kent Schull
TRIP Courtesy Title
Translation Research and Instruction Program (TRIP)
Research Interests
- History of the Ottoman Empire
- Modern Middle East history
- Palestine-Israel
- Turkey
- Criminal justice in the Middle East
- Missiology
- Forced migration
- Middle East and North African diaspora communities
Teaching Interests
- History of the Ottoman Empire
- Israel and Palestine
- Modern Middle East
- World War I and the Middle East
- Revolution in the modern Middle East
- Forced migration and refugees in the Middle East
- Immigration and refugee resettlement
Tarek Shamma
tshamma@binghamton.eduResearch Interests
- Translation and Culture
- Orientalism and Postcolonial Studies
- Cultural Studies
- The Arabian Nights
- The Bible in Islamic Cultures