Commemorating CCAS’s Golden Anniversary
The gatherings, conversations, and projects that have shaped CCAS’s 50th anniversary year
By Vicki Valosik
As CCAS marks its 50th anniversary, this year has included events that have invited reflection on the Center’s history and recognition of the community that has sustained it. At the same time, CCAS’s regular public events lineup has continued, with programming on Gaza, the war in Iran, and other urgent issues shaping the region.
Alumni and students gather at campus picnic kicking off a year of celebrations
The anniversary celebrations kicked off in September with an alumni picnic that brought together current and former MAAS students for an afternoon of games and food on the Hilltop. The festivities continued in November when CCAS hosted a reception in conjunction with the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Annual Conference. It was a wonderful gathering of members of the CCAS community (past and present) and friends of the Center. Several faculty—Fida Adely, Joseph Sassoon, Marwa Daoudy, and Judith Tucker—spoke about CCAS’s long and continuing legacy. MAAS alum Bassam Haddad spoke about the lasting impact of his time at the Center and reminded students that they will always have a home at CCAS. The evening also honored alum Susan Douglass, who recently retired after serving for a decade as CCAS Director of Education Outreach.
Past and present faculty, staff, and students at CCAS’s 50th anniversary reception at MESA
As part of the academic sessions at MESA, Professor Daoudy organized a roundtable titled “Fifty Years of Arab Studies in the U.S.: Identity, Knowledge Production and Resistance from the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.” The panel revisited questions that have shaped CCAS across five decades: Who produces knowledge about the Arab world, for whom, and with what ethical and political commitments?
Also in the fall, CCAS was pleased to host Dr. Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Arab Studies at Columbia University, as this year’s distinguished speaker for the longrunning Kareema Khoury Memorial Lecture series. Khalidi delivered his talk, “100 Years’ War on Palestine,” on October 9, 2025 to a packed ICC auditorium. The lecture series, endowed in 1988 by Kareema Khoury’s family has brought a wide range of eminent scholars, artists, and writers to campus, including Kamal Boullata, Edward Said, Janet Abu-Lughod, Ali Jihad Racy, and Noura Erakat.
Curators Vicki Valosik, Jasper Hunsinger, and Ryan Zohar at the launch of Lauinger’s exhibit celebrating 50 years of CCAS
In January, CCAS hosted a public launch of a digital archive documenting the Center’s five decades of history, a major anniversary project years in the making. The archive includes an interactive timeline and archive of photographs, publications, oral histories, videos, and other materials. In a related project, CCAS has partnered with Georgetown’s Lauinger Library and the Booth Family Special Collections to create a physical exhibit titled “50 Years of Arab Studies at Georgetown University.” The exhibit, which is on display on the 5th floor of the library, complements the digital project by bringing into public view selected materials from the archive that highlight key moments in the Center’s history. A reception celebrating the exhibit launch will be held on April 23, and the exhibit will remain open through October 1, 2026.
Mo Amer and Ayman Mohyeldin speak at Georgetown’s Gaston Hall
In late April, several final events brought the year of celebrations to a close. “An Evening with Mo Amer and Ayman Mohyeldin” on April 22 featured Amer, whose comedy and television work have brought Arab American life to wide audiences, and Mohyeldin, whose reporting has helped shape public understanding of the Middle East, for a conversation touching on scholarship and journalism on the region, as well as storytelling and comedy as cultural production. The following evening a community dinner brought together students, faculty, staff, and alumni for a special celebration and a guest performance by Omar Offendum. The festivities culminated on Friday, April 24 with a MAAS Student Community Day, which offered an opportunity for current students to share research presentations, film screenings, and other forms of intellectual and artistic exchange. The day will close with a community dinner with a special performance by musician Omar Offendum.
Taken together, these anniversary events have created opportunities to reconnect, reflect, and celebrate CCAS’s enduring impact.
Students join a debke line at the CCAS Community Dinner, one of the anniversary year’s culminating events
Vicki Valosik is the CCAS Editorial Director.