Fatemeh Keshavarz

Fatemeh Keshavarz Ph.D. is an Iranian academic, Rumi and Persian studies scholar, and a poet in Persian and English. She is the Roshan Chair of Persian Studies and Director of the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, since 2012. Previously, she served as a professor of Persian Language and Comparative Literature for twenty years and chair of the department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at Washington University in St. Louis from 2004 to 2011. Over the years, she has published several notable books including Reading Mystical Lyric: the Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi (1998), Recite in the Name of the Red Rose (2006) and Jasmine and Stars: Reading more than Lolita in Tehran (2007). As an activist for peace and justice, in 2008, she received the Hershel Walker 'Peace and Justice' Award. Early life and education Born and brought up in Shiraz, Iran, Fatemeh Keshavarz holds a B.A. (1976) in Persian Language and Literature from Shiraz University, and an M.A. (1981) and a PhD (1985) in Near Eastern Studies from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Career Professor Keshavarz taught at Washington University from 1990 until 2012. She served as Director of the Graduate Program in Jewish, Islamic, and Near Eastern Studies, Director of the Center for the Study of Islamic Societies and Civilizations, President of the Association of Women Faculty, and Chair of the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures. In 2012, she became the Director and Chair of the Roshan Institute Center for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland.