Associate Members

Emin Adas

Dr. Emin Adas worked as an Assistant Professor in Gaziantep University before joining the Department of Sociology at UIUC as a Visiting Assistant Professor. His research interests include economic, political and cultural manifestations of Islamization in Turkey, Islamic Entrepreneurs and their politics, health policies and inequalities, migration and poverty.

Abdulkafi Albirini

Arabic Lecturer in Linguistics. Dr. Albirini's research emphasizes web-mediated instruction in Arabic.

Ercan Balci

Dr. Balci is the Turkish program coordinator and a Turkish lecturer in the Department of Linguistics. He teaches all levels of Turkish language, Turkish culture and identity and global studies classes. His research interests include Turkish morpo-phonology, Second Language Acquisition, Turkish culture and identity, Curriculum development and Less Commonly Taught Languages.

Rajmohan Gandhi

Research Professor, Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and Director of the Global Crossroads International Living/Learning Community.

Serife Genis

Dr. Serife Genis did her undergraduate studies in the Department of Sociology at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey and her PhD studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She worked as an Assistant Professor in Gaziantep University in Turkey before joining the Department of Sociology at UIUC as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Her research interests include global cities, gated communities, migration, urban inequalities, poverty, and social exclusion.

William Hechler

Dr. William Hechler is a Lecturer in the Department of English. Dr. Hechler teaches technical writing and science journalism. He is interested in forestry and demography in the western Tarai region of Nepal, particularly in the areas where Nepali-speaking hill people are moving into the areas traditionally occupied by the Tharu tribe.

Farhad Malekafzali

Dr. Farhad Malekafzali is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science.

Rini Bhattacharya Mehta

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Comparative Literature, Visiting Lecturer for Comparative Literature and the Department of Religion.

Mithilesh Mishra

Lecturer, Department of Linguistics.

Peyman Nojoumian

Peyman Nojoumian is the Persian program coordinator and Instructor in the Department of Linguistics. He teaches Persian at all levels. His research interests include Teaching Persian as a Foreign Language with special interest in Task-based Language Teaching (TBLT) methodology & instructional materials development, Persian Computational Linguistics, CALL and Psycholinguistics.

Ritu Saksena

Dr. Ritu Saksena is the Associate Director for the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Program in Comparative and World Literature at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has an M.A and M.Phil in English from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Ph.D in Comparative Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has taught several courses on World Literature and Global Cinema, worked as an Academic Dean for Johns Hopkin’s Center for Talented Youth summer programs, as well as in translation outreach and publishing. Her research interests include Postcolonialism, Cinema Studies and South Asian studies.