The Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures will welcome Kevin van Bladel as new Department Chair for the Autumn 2013 semester.

Van Bladel's work is centered in the cultural and intellectual history of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East in the first millennium CE, focusing on the interaction of different language communities and the translation of learned traditions between Greek, Arabic, Syriac/Aramaic, Latin, Iranian languages and Sanskrit. He comes to OSU from the University of Southern California, where he was Director of the Middle Easet Studies Program and where he served on the faculty of the Department of Classics since completing his PhD in Graeco-Arabic Studies at Yale University.

The Department is excitedly anticipating Professor van Bladel's arrival and looks forward to the coming year.