Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet Appointed the Robert I. Williams Term Professor of History

Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet has been appointed to the Robert I. Williams Term Chair in History in the School of Arts and Sciences. A member of the Department of History, Kashani-Sabet has also directed the Middle East Center at Penn since 2006 and teaches courses examining aspects of modern Middle Eastern history, including ethnic and political conflicts, gender and women’s issues, popular culture, diplomatic history, revolutionary ideologies and general surveys.

Kashani-Sabet earned her Ph.D. in history at Yale University. She is the author of Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946, which discusses Iranian nationalism and analyzes the significance of land and border disputes. Additionally, Kashani-Sabet recently completed another book, Conceiving Citizens: Women and the Politics of Motherhood in Iran, and is in the process of completing her latest work which explores the history of U.S.-Iranian relations. Though busy with her academic pursuits, Kashani has experimented with writing fiction and published her first novel, Martyrdom Street, in 2010.

This chair was established by Paul C. Williams, W’67, parent, in memory of his father. Mr. Williams is currently managing director at Nuveen Investments, LLC, where he leads new product development for Nuveen’s complex of closed-end, exchange-traded funds. Mr. Williams is a Trustee Emeritus of the University, a member of the SAS Board of Overseers, and a former President of Penn Alumni. In 2011 he earned the University’s Alumni Award of Merit.