Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Gary Gilbert is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Jewish Studies Sequence at Claremont McKenna College.  His research and teaching focus on Jewish Studies, particularly Jewish communities in the Greek and Roman periods.  He is author of the commentary on Acts of the Apostles in the Jewish Annotated New Testament and of numerous articles on the Jewish community of late antique Aphrodisias and Jewish communal life in antiquity.  

Professor Gilbert teaches a wide array of courses in Jewish Studies, including courses on the ancient Jewish experience, Jewish art and identity, women and gender in Jewish tradition, a history of Jerusalem, and Zionism and Israel.  Professor Gilbert received his bachelors in Classical Studies from Haverford College and his doctorate from Columbia University, with additional studies in Jewish history at The Jewish Theological Seminary and early Christianity at Union Theological Seminary.  Professor Gilbert serves on the staff of the Tel Akko archaeological excavations in Israel.  In addition to his time at CMC, Professor Gilbert has been Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and at the Institute for Israel Studies at Brandeis University, and has served President of the Pacific Region of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Heather Ferguson received an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas-Austin and a Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley. After completing a two-year postdoctoral position at Stanford University with the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies and History Departments, she joined the faculty at Claremont McKenna and is now an Associate Professor of Ottoman and Middle Eastern History. Ferguson is an American Council of Learned Societies Fellow, 2014-2015, for her book project entitled The Proper Order of Things: Language, Power and Law in Ottoman Administrative Discourses, published by Stanford University Press in May 2018. Currently, she is working on a second monograph supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities summer stipend grant, 2019, and an American Council of Learned Societies Burkhardt Fellowship (2020) that explores Sovereign Valedictions: Archival Ventures and “Last Acts” in Ottoman and Habsburg Courts, and her research focuses broadly on comparative early modern empires, documentary genres and discourses of power, linkages between archives and state governance, as well as on legal and urban transformations around the Mediterranean. She serves as Editor of the Review of Middle East Studies, Associate Editor for the International Journal of Islamic Architecture and was an inaugural member of the Claremont Faculty Leadership Program. Professor Ferguson remains committed to interdisciplinary and multi-perspectival approaches in research, teaching, and service.

Hicham Bou Nassif, currently the Weinberg Associate Professor of International Relations and the Middle East at Claremont McKenna College, is a distinguished scholar with a Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University, a Research Doctorate from Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, an MA in political science and government from Saint Joseph University of Beirut, and a master’s degree in public law, all after obtaining his bachelor’s degree in law from Lebanese University.

His expertise spans various fields, including authoritarianism, civil-military relations, and Middle East politics. With a rich academic background, he has contributed significantly to the field, publishing the book Endgames: Military Response to Protest in Arab Autocracies (Cambridge University Press) and numerous peer-reviewed articles. He is currently writing a second book on America's policy in the Middle East under Reagan. Nassif's teaching experience encompasses a range of courses, from international relations to comparative politics. Proficient in Arabic, English, and French, he brings a multicultural perspective to his work. Beyond academia, he has undertaken extensive fieldwork in various countries in the Middle East, showcasing a hands-on approach to research, specifically focused on military politics in authoritarian contexts. Even before coming to the US to pursue his graduate studies, Hicham worked as a journalist in his home country of Lebanon. His career is marked by grants and fellowships obtained from Carleton College and Claremont McKenna College.