Ussama Makdisi joined the faculty of Rice University in 1997 and became
a professor of history in 2008. He is the first holder of the Arab-American
Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University and is on the
board of directors of the Middle East Studies Association. Dr. Makdisi was
recognized as a Carnegie Scholar for his original scholarship regarding Muslim
societies and communities, both in the United States and abroad. He is the
author of Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East (2008) and Faith Misplaced: The Broken Promise of U.S.-Arab Relations, 1820–2001 (2010). He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and his B.A. from Wesleyan University.

(Fall 2003, Spring 2015)