Robert Myers, Director (rm33@aub.edu.lb)

Robert Myers is an Associate Professor of English and creative writing, whose areas of specialization include American theater and Latin American literature. He is currently the director of The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR). Myers has a B.A. from Eckerd College in English and creative writing and a Ph.D from Yale in Spanish- and Portugese- language literatures. He is the author of over a dozen stage plays, including Atwater: Fixin' to Die, about Lee Atwater; The Lynching of Leo Frank, about the Leo Frank case; Dead of Night, about the death of Fred Hampton; and Mesopotamia, about Gertrude Bell and the British occupation of Iraq. He has written about theater and culture for PAJ, Middle East Critique, The New York Times and other publications. Reviews of his work and samples of his writing can be viewed at www.robert-myers.com.

phone: 961 1 350000 extension 4197
Fax: 961 1 744461
College Hall 452, 4th Floor

Patrick McGreevy, Former Director ( pm07@aub.edu.lb)

Patrick McGreevy joined AUB as the Director of CASAR in 2004 and became Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences in September 2009. Prior to that, he was Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Geography and Earth Science at Clarion University in Pennsylvania. He served as a Fulbright Chair of American Studies in Hungary in 1999-2000. His research focuses on the meanings Americans find in landscape and comparative studies of Canadian and American identities. Dr. McGreevy’s publications include Imagining Niagara: The Meaning and Making of Niagara Falls (1994). Prof. McGreevy received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Minnesota in 1984.

1. Dr. Djelal Kadir                                Pennsylvania State University
2. Dr. Amy Kaplan                               The University of Pennsylvania
3. Dr. Stanley Katz                              Princeton University
4. Mr. Rami Khoury                              American University of Beirut
5. Dr. Scott Lucas                                University of Birmingham
6. Dr. Melani McAlister                         George Washington University

Executive Committee:

1. Dr. Joshua Andresen                       Philosophy Department (ja30@aub.edu.lb )
2. Dr. Sirene Harb                               English Department  (sh03@aub.edu.lb ) 
3. Dr. Julia Kent                                  English Department  (jk37@aub.edu.lb)  
4. Dr. Karim Makdisi                           PSPA Department ( km18@aub.edu.lb )
5. Dr. Kirsten Scheid                           SBS Department ( ks28@aub.edu.lb )  
6. Dr. Sylvia Shorto                             Architecture and Design Department (ss56@aub.edu.lb)
7. Dr. John Pedro Shwartz                  English Department (js34@aub.edu.lb)

Current Visiting Professors:

Noel Ignatiev, Edward Said Chair of American Studies, Fall and Spring 2009-2010

Noel Ignatiev received his PhD from Harvard in the History of American Civilization. He is author of How the Irish Became White (recently reissued as a Routledge Classic), coeditor of Race Traitor (winner of the 1996 American Book Award), editor of Lesson of the Hour: Wendell Phillips on Abolition and Strategy, and author of numerous articles.
He has been a fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University and a Regents Fellow at the University of California-Riverside. When not at AUB he teaches in the Liberal Arts Department at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. His next publication, A New Notion: Two Articles by C.L.R. James, is scheduled for December from PM Press.

College Hall, Room 421
phone: +961 1 350000, ext. 4196

Former Visiting Professors:

William Marling, Edward Said Chair of American Studies, Fall & Spring 2008-2009

William Marling was the first Edward Said Chair of American Studies at CASAR, AUB during the year 2008-2009. He has been a Distinguished Foreign Professor in France, Spain, Austria, and Japan. His home is Cleveland, Ohio, where he teaches at Case Western Reserve University. His research focuses on American poetry, fiction, and popular culture, especially as they are influenced by art and technology. His current work concerns World Literature. He was formerly a financial journalist for Fortune and Money magazines. Dr. Marling is the author of five books, the most recent of which is How “American” is Globalization? (John Hopkins, 2005).

Adam John Waterman, Visiting Professor, Fall & Spring 2008-2009

Adam John Waterman was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR) at the American University of Beirut during the year 2008-2009. In 2008, he received his Ph.D. from the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, where he was a MacCracken Fellow in the American Studies Program. He has written on topics as wide-ranging as the art of Kara Walker, the theoretical legacy of the Black Panther Party, and the political rhetoric of Jamestown minister, Jim Jones. At present, he is preparing a manuscript entitled The Corpse in the Kitchen: History, Value, and the Afterlives of Black Hawk, in which he examines the relationship between narratives of nineteenth century American Indian war and the construction of socioeconomic value on the North American land market. Before coming to AUB, Professor Waterman held appointments at the University of Virginia and Macalester College.

Robert Ross is currently a visiting professor at the Center for American Studies & Research at the American University of Beirut. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Geography at Syracuse University.  He has a master’s degree in geography from University College London and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and sociology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. 

Marcy Newman is currently assistant professor of English at Boise State University and was a visiting professor at the Center for American Studies and Research during Fall and Spring 2006-2007 at the American University of Beirut. She is the author of Beyond Slash, Burn, and Poison: Transforming Breast Cancer Stories into Action (Rutgers UP 2004)and editor of The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem

Susanne Wiedemann graduated from the Free University of Berlin with an M.A. in North American Studies in 1997. She received an M.A. in Museum Studies from Brown University in May 1999, and her Ph.D. in American Civilization in 2006.

Dr. Khadija Fritsche El-Alaoui received her Ph.D from Technical University in Dresden in 2005. Her current research focuses on the politics of representations and how its analysis reveals the messy intersections of power, knowledge and culture.Dr. El-Alaoui's research interests include the connectivity among the various

phone: 961 1 350000 extension 4199
College Hall 443, 4th Floor  

phone: 961 1 350000 extension 4199
College Hall 443, 4th Floor

Gabriel Magro, Graduate Assistant ( gmm11@aub.edu.lb)

phone: 961 1 350000 extension 4199
College Hall 443, 4th Floor