Awad Halabi is an Associate Professor at WSU specializing in the Middle East and Islam, serving jointly in the Departments of History and Religion since 2005 after earning a doctorate from the University of Toronto’s Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. Since joining Wright State, Halabi has help to launch a Minor in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, invited speakers and organized lecture series on the Middle East and Islam, and hosted a Fulbright Scholar from Jordan. He has also conducted interviews with local newspapers and television stations and appeared in an al-Jazeera documentary about WWI. Halabi has spoken at various universities both in Ohio and nationally. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and is currently completing a book about an Islamic festival in honor of the Prophet Moses in late Ottoman and British-ruled Palestine.