Chambers to Lecture on Middle East

Noted historian and UA alum visits campus

Dr. Richard Chambers, a UA alum and noted historian, will be on campus to lecture Sept. 26.
Dr. Richard Chambers, a UA alum and noted historian, will be on campus to lecture Sept. 26.

From the September 2013 Desktop News Dr. Richard Chambers, a UA alumnus and noted historian of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey, will visit The University of Alabama this month to discuss the development of the field of Middle Eastern politics and what it takes to be a specialist in Middle Eastern studies.

His lecture, “Middle Eastern Studies Then and Now: An Insider View,” will take place on September 26 at 4 p.m. in Room 205 of Gorgas Library on the UA campus. It is free and open to the public.

Chambers earned his bachelor’s degree in 1950 and his master’s degree in 1956, both in history, from the from The University of Alabama.  He then studied at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany before earning his doctoral degree from Princeton University in 1968.

He held academic appointments in the history departments of the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and St. Lawrence University in New York before joining the faculty of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. He taught Turkish history and language there from 1962 to 1995.

During his tenure at Chicago, he served two terms as director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, which specializes in the study of the Middle East and is a nationally recognized resource center for Middle Eastern studies. After retiring, he volunteered with Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

Since returning to his home state of Alabama in 2002, Chambers has served as a research volunteer at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery.