Ximena Solorzano, Staff Photographer

The Yale Council on Middle East Studies is seeking a postdoctoral associate in Palestinian studies, according to a job listing that opened on Jan. 14.

The new position, which lasts from August 2025 to May 2026, entails conducting individual research and teaching an undergraduate seminar related to Palestine in fall 2025 or spring 2026. According to the job listing, the Council on Middle East Studies — or CMES — is seeking recent Ph.D. recipients and is “particularly interested” in candidates who specialize in the early modern or modern period.

“CMES frequently brings scholars and postdoctoral fellows to help research and teach about the region,” professor Travis Zadeh, chair of CMES, wrote in an email to the News. “For instance, the council has hosted a longstanding postdoctoral position attached to the Program in Iranian Studies. Next year’s fellowship on the study of Palestine adds to our council’s mix of offerings, and speaks to strong continuing faculty and student educational interest in understanding the region.”

Various faculty members advocated for the creation of a postdoctoral position. According to Zadeh, the “decisive factor” in the creation of the position was his and other CMES faculty members’ view that the position served an “important educational purpose.” 

The position listing comes months after Yalies4Palestine launched their ‘Sustain Our Scholars’ — or SOS — campaign, which called for the University to “invest in the transformative study of Palestine,” among other demands. Rohan Lokanadham ’28, a student organizer in Yalies4Palestine — or Y4P — celebrated the new postdoctoral position as a triumph for the campaign.

“It’s our first big win for the SOS campaign, which is just so exciting,” Lokanadham said. “It makes us feel like a lot of our other goals are also very tangible and able to happen.” 

While Lokanadham said that members of Y4P had met with University administrators to discuss a potential postdoctoral position in the study of Palestine, Lokanadham also told the News that he does not want to “take credit” for the creation of the new position, instead crediting faculty in CMES and in the Yale Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.

The postdoctoral position also follows a Yale College Council referendum backed by the pro-Palestine Sumud Coalition, of which Y4P is a member group. The referendum, which overwhelmingly passed among undergraduate students, called for the University to “act on its commitment to education by investing in Palestinian scholars and students,” among other calls for divestment and reinvestment.

Lokanadham stressed that Y4P did not recognize the new position as a response to the referendum. 

Members of Y4P met with University Provost Scott Strobel last semester to discuss how students can continue to work with the University to realize the SOS campaign’s goals, including the possibility of creating a Palestinian studies program, per Lokanadham.

According to Lokanadham, Strobel had told members of Y4P that such a program would require significant amounts of funding, which would go toward professorships, postdoctoral positions and an endowment for the program. 

“The University has not estimated the cost of starting a Palestinian Studies Program or Center for Palestinian Studies,” Strobel wrote in an email to the News. “The cost of setting up new centers or programs varies greatly — depending on the entity’s scope, existing resources, and many other factors.”

Strobel also wrote that it is up to relevant unit leaders to decide on the scope of a new center or program, and it is “typically the responsibility” of unit leaders to fundraise for the establishment of a center.

Meanwhile, members of Y4P have taken it upon themselves to seek donors for a potential Palestinian studies program.

“We’re looking for people who are willing to donate to Palestinian scholarship and continue that being taught here,” Lokanadham said. “We do also want donors to continue funding mutual aid projects if their donations are smaller. Something that we’ve talked about is ensuring that people in Gaza right now are supported, so mutual aid projects are still very important to us. But larger donations and donors can be pointed to helping fund our Palestinian studies program.”

However, Zadeh wrote that “the creation of one postdoc that responds to strong educational interest in a region should not be taken as an indication (or not) of a wider CMES programmatic goal, at present.”

Yale awarded its first Ph.D. in Middle East Studies in 1861.

Correction, Jan. 23: This article has been updated with the correct spelling of Rohan Lokanadham’s name. 

ELSPETH YEH
Elspeth Yeh covers faculty and academics for the University Desk. She is a first year from Cambridge, Massachusetts, now in Ezra Stiles College. She is majoring in Humanities.
YOLANDA WANG
Yolanda Wang covers Faculty and Academics as well as Endowment, Finances and Donations. Originally from Buffalo, NY, she is a junior in Davenport College majoring in political science.