Ali Vural Ak Center welcomes its new Co-Director

Ali Vural Ak Center welcomes its new Co-Director

The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies is pleased to welcome its new Co-Director, Dr. Huseyin Yilmaz, Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Art History, who joins George Mason University after teaching at the University of South Florida for the past three years.

Dr. Yilmaz is a leading scholar of Ottoman history, specializing in Ottoman political thought. The Ali Vural Ak Center has an established track record of reexamining traditional readings of the history of relations between Europe and the Muslim world, and his research will contribute greatly to this continued effort. His courses are sure to enrich students’ academic experience in Islamic Studies, expanding the program’s curriculum with a number of fascinating subjects.

In his first semester at Mason, Dr. Yilmaz is currently teaching HIST 387-011: The Ottoman Empire I, the first of a two-part course on Ottoman history. In Spring 2013, he will also teach a seminar on Islamic Thought and Culture, offering students the opportunity to gain a more nuanced understanding of prominent Muslim thinkers, trends in Islamic intellectual debates, and the rich cultural history of Islam.

He has taught similar courses at a number of universities including Stanford, Boston College, and Harvard. His work has been published for several journals in both English and Turkish, and he has lectured widely on Ottoman history throughout the United States, Turkey, and Europe.

In March of 2011, he made his first visit to George Mason University, presenting his research at the Scholars’ Forum of the “Beyond Golden Age and Decline” project funded by a grant awarded to the Ali Vural Ak Center from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

By adding Dr. Yilmaz to its distinguished list of Islamic Studies faculty, Mason has further strengthened its position, nationally and globally, as a premier hub of research, teaching, and outreach in Islamic Studies.