Encyclopedia of Islam

Encyclopedia of  Islam

of California, Santa Barbara. She specializes in 

the history of Islamic architecture and urban-

ism, medieval Islamic iconography, and modern 

Arab art. Her research has appeared in Muqar-

nas: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture,

the International Journal of Middle East Studies,

and the Journal of Near Eastern Studies. She also 

contributed to Autobiography in Medieval Arabic 

Tradition, edited by Dwight Reynolds.

Max Leeming is on the religion faculty of Vassar 

College, where she teaches Islamic studies and 

the history of religions, with a focus on sacred 

space in the Islamic Middle East.

Laura Lohman received a Ph.D. from the Uni-

versity of Pennsylvania and specializes in the 

music of the Middle East. Her research on 

Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum appears in 

Music and the Play of Power in the Middle East, 

North Africa and Central Asia (Ashgate). She 

is an assistant professor of music at California 

State University, Fullerton, where she is com-

pleting a study of the singer’s late career and 

reception history (Wesleyan University Press).

Gregory Mack is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute 

of Islamic Studies at McGill University. He 

holds an M.A. from the University of Toronto. 

His specialization is Islamic law; his research 

presently focuses on legal reforms in the Mid-

dle East.

Garay Menicucci is the associate director of the 

Office of International Students and Scholars 

at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

He has a Ph.D. in Middle East history from 

Georgetown University. He is a past editorial 

committee member and author for the Middle 

East Report and teaches an introduction to Mid-

dle East studies and Arab cinema at the Univer-

sity of California, Santa Barbara. He has also 

organized and led several summer seminars in 

Egypt and Jordan for California K-12 teachers 

and administrators, funded by Fulbright-Hays 

Group Projects grants.

Tara Munson is a Ph.D. student in religious stud-

ies at the University of California, Santa Bar-

bara. She specializes in the study of Pacific Rim 

religions, with a focus on the Philippines.

Kathleen M. O’Connor is assistant professor of 

religious studies at the University of South 

Florida. She specializes in Islamic studies, with 

focuses on Islam in the African American com-

munity, Islamic medicine, and folk religion. She 

has published articles and chapters on Islamic 

healing systems and African American Islam, 

and contributed to the Encyclopedia of the 

Quran. Her current book project is The Worlds 

of Interpretation of African American Muslims.

Patrick S. O’Donnell holds an M.A. in religious 

studies from the University of California, Santa 

Barbara, and is an adjunct instructor in the 

Department of Philosophy at Santa Barbara City 

College. He has published articles, reviews, and 

bibliographies in the following journals: The 

Good Society, Globalization, Radical Pedagogy, 

Theory and Science, and Philosophy East & West.

Among the encyclopedias he has contributed 

to are the Biographical Encyclopedia of Islamic 

Philosophers and the Encyclopedia of Love in 

World Religions.

Kate O’Halloran is a writer and editor specializing 

in world history. She holds an M.A. in modern 

literature and languages (French and German) 

from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and has 

published several books for students.

Sophia Pandya is an assistant professor of reli-

gious studies at California State University, 

Long Beach. She received a Ph.D. from the 

University of California, Santa Barbara. Her 

specialization is in the area of women, religion, 

and the developing world, with an emphasis on 

women and Islam. She has authored an article 

on women and religious education in Bahrain.

Firoozeh Papan-Matin is the director of Persian 

and Iranian studies at the University of Wash-

ington, Seattle. She has a master’s in English 

literature and a second master’s and a doctor-

ate in Iranian studies from University of Cali-

fornia, Santa Barbara. Her dissertation research 

is on 12th-century Islamic mysticism in Iran. 

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