My approach to academic leadership is grounded in collaboration, community building, and shared responsibility. I see leadership not simply as administering programs or directing institutions, but as creating the conditions in which students, faculty, and intellectual communities can grow, collaborate, and remain in meaningful conversation, even during periods of uncertainty and disagreement.

Building Persian Studies

Since joining UNC-Chapel Hill in 2016, I have played a central role in developing Persian Studies on campus. I began as Coordinator of the Persian Program and its study-abroad program and later served as the inaugural Director of Persian Studies and Chair of the Persian Studies Advisory Committee. Working with colleagues across the university, I helped expand opportunities in Persian language, literature, and culture through curriculum development, fellowships, research grants, visiting speakers, conferences, and other academic programming. This work culminated in the establishment of the Persian Studies major in 2025.

For me, program building is fundamentally collaborative. It begins with listening to students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders, identifying needs and opportunities, and building structures that can sustain intellectual work over time.

Leading Through Challenging Times

From 2022 to 2026, I served as Director of UNC’s Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, and from 2023 to 2026 as Director of the North Carolina Consortium for Middle East Studies. I assumed these leadership roles at a particularly challenging moment for Middle East studies.

The Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran brought urgent questions of gender, protest, state violence, and human rights into conversations on campus and beyond. The following year, the Israel-Palestine conflict created another profoundly difficult period for students, faculty, and communities with different perspectives and personal connections to events in the region.

These experiences deepened my understanding of academic leadership. Leading during moments of profound disagreement requires more than managing programs. It requires creating space for serious intellectual engagement, supporting people with different perspectives, and sustaining a community without expecting disagreement to disappear. I came to understand leadership less as directing an institution and more as taking responsibility for a community, particularly when that community is under strain.

Leadership in the Profession

My commitment to building scholarly communities extends beyond the university. I currently serve as President-Elect of the Association for Iranian Studies and will assume the presidency in December 2026. I also serve on the Board of Trustees of the American Institute for Iranian Studies and have served on the Executive Committee of the Modern Language Association’s Association of Language Departments.

These roles have broadened my understanding of the challenges facing academic fields and professional communities, particularly during periods of geopolitical uncertainty. I believe scholarly organizations must be able to sustain meaningful intellectual exchange even when their members hold profoundly different political, ethical, and personal perspectives.

Institutional and Program Development

Across my leadership roles, I have worked in:

• Academic program and curriculum development
• Faculty and student support
• Grant development and administration
• Strategic planning and institutional collaboration
• Faculty governance
• International and Middle Eastern studies
• Conferences, lectures, and public programming
• Community building and conflict navigation

Leadership & Professional Development

2025 — “The Current Moment,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 23.

2025 — “Storytelling with Data,” Documenting the Impact of Humanities in Higher Education, National Humanities Alliance, April 11.

2025 — “Analyzing Data,” Documenting the Impact of Humanities in Higher Education, National Humanities Alliance, April 4.

2025 — “Methodologies for Documenting the Impact of Humanities,” Documenting the Impact of Humanities in Higher Education, National Humanities Alliance, March 28.

2025 — “Introduction to Documenting the Impact of the Humanities,” Documenting the Impact of Humanities in Higher Education, National Humanities Alliance, March 18.

2024 — “Meeting Enrollment Challenges in Languages and Literatures,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 24.

2024 — “Building on Our Strengths, Looking Ahead: Humanities General Education as the Foundation for the Future,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 24.

2024 — “How to Be a Dean: Careers in Higher Administration,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 25.

2024 — “Difficult Colleagues, Difficult Conversations,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 25.

2024 — “How University Budgets Work—and What to Do When They’re Not Working for You,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 26.

2024 — “Before the Robots Take Over: Envisioning a Future with and for the Humanities,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 26.

2024 — “Advocating for the Humanities in an AI Future,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 26.

2024 — “Data and Advocacy,” Modern Language Association Academic Program Services Leadership Institute, June 27.

2020–21 — “Women ADVANC Leadership,” Center for Faculty Excellence, UNC-Chapel Hill.

Leadership Workshop Facilitated

2027 — “Defending Academic Freedom in the Current Moment.” Association of Language Departments, Modern Language Association, January 7–11.

2026 — “Morale and Mattering: How Humanities Leaders Can Support Faculty, Staff, and Students in Challenging Times.” Plenary panel, Association of Language Departments, Modern Language Association, San José State University, May 28.

2026 — “Marketing Your Department.” Association of Language Departments, Modern Language Association, San José State University, May 29.

2025 — “Leading a Comparative or Multidisciplinary Program.” Association of Language Departments, Modern Language Association, June 16–17.