Harun Küçük Brings Science, Philosophy, and History to the Middle East Center

Harun Küçük, Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science, was appointed Director of the Middle East Center (MEC) in July 2021, taking over from Interim Director John Ghazvinian. Penn has a long history of studying the Middle East, going back to the late 1700s, when it was the first university in the nation to offer Arabic-language instruction.

“Harun is a tireless advocate for the needs of the Center and has demonstrated a deep concern with understanding and listening to the needs of the staff,” says Ghazvinian, who will remain in an executive director role. “He will bring a fresh perspective and a respected voice for understanding our region in its deeper historical context.”

Küçük’s research has focused on everything from the Ottoman medical marketplace to minting practices, and from natural philosophy to gunpowder recipes. As head of the MEC, he plans to focus on diverse voices and perspectives; inclusion and access; and environment, society, and the global Middle East.

“I think my role first and foremost is to maintain all the good things that the Center’s already doing and bolster them,” says Küçük.

For Küçük, what sets the MEC apart is the amount of public programming and public outreach, from providing lesson plans and training for K-12 educators to partnering with the NaTakallam program, which connects forcibly displaced people with language and cultural exchange at schools in the Delaware Valley and beyond. Recent programming also includes a virtual “Rapid Response” panel on the unfolding events in Afghanistan, and “Twenty Years Later: The Legacy of 9/11.”

“Penn is an institution of excellence and the Center’s public outreach gets that excellence into the community,” says Küçük.