About Dr. Shaked
Dr. Haim Shaked has been a tenured Professor of International Studies at the University of Miami (UM) since 1988. He has been the incumbent of the Dr. M. Lee Pearce Chair in Middle East Peace Studies (since 1993).
In September 1998, UM announced the creation of the university-wide Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies and appointed Dr. Shaked as its Founding Director. In 2005 he was also appointed Director of the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies, at the UM’s College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Shaked has also served at UM, since 1986, as the Director of the Middle East Studies Institute. From 1995-2000, Dr. Shaked was one of the founders – under the leadership of Prof. Uriel Reichman - of the first private (not-for-profit) university in Israel: The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya.
Haim Shaked was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. He was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he graduated with a B.A. Cum Laude (1962) and an M.A. Cum Laude (1966) in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. In 1969 he was awarded a Ph.D. by the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), on completion of his studies in its Department of History, chaired then by the eminent Professor Bernard Lewis. Dr. Shaked’s doctoral thesis dealt with a unique manuscript biography of the Sudanese Mahdi.
From 1969-1998, Dr. Shaked was on the faculty of Tel Aviv University (TAU) where he attained the rank of Full Professor (tenured). He was a co-founder (1966) and later (1973-80) Head of the Moshe Dayan Center/Shiloah Institute for Middle Eastern and African Studies. At Tel Aviv University he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and member of TAU’s Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee as well as of the University Senate and its Steering Committee (1975-80). As dean, Dr. Shaked oversaw, among other academic units, the School of Judaic Studies, including several departments and research institutes devoted to various aspects of Judaic Studies (e.g., history, literature, language, archaeology). While serving as dean, Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Humanities was the first institution of higher learning in Israel to introduce a “B.A. in General Studies” – thus introducing a hitherto unknown flexibility into, without compromising the rigor of, academic studies.
Dr. Shaked took early retirement from TAU in Summer 1998.
From 1981-1983, Dr. Shaked was Interim Director of the Center for Advanced International Studies at UM, with a mandate to develop it into a Graduate School of International Studies. In 1998 it became the School of International Studies. In 2001, the School became the Department of International Studies in UM’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Shaked’s academic specialization is in the modern history and politics of the Middle East; Islam as a political force; and Arab-Israeli relations. He was the co-founder and editor of the annual publication Middle East Contemporary Survey (24 volumes published). In addition, he founded and edited the first fully computerized, comprehensive bibliography on the Middle East, Mideast File. He has also authored and edited several books and numerous articles about the Middle East.
Together with Prof. Shaul Friedlander he was founding co-editor of Zemanim (Times) – a Hebrew quarterly magazine on history. Prof. Shaked was the academic co-founder of “The Broadcast University” and its series of publications – by far the most popular academic program ever launched in Israel for the benefit of the general public. Many publications resulting from this program have been used in Israeli higher education programs.
Prof. Shaked is a member of the Board of Advisors of the University of Oklahoma’s International Programs Center/Center for Peace Studies and the Board of Editors of the Middle East Quarterly. He is a member of the Academic Councils of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research; of the Ben Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Ben Gurion University; of the Steering Committee of the Kinneret Institute for the Study of Society, Security and Peace (named after the late Lt. Gen. Dan Shomoron); of the Steering Committee of the Institute for Galilean Archaeology, the Kinneret College; and of the Advisory Board of the (American) National Jewish Theater Foundation/National Jewish Theater. Dr. Shaked is a member of the board of the Association of Applied Jewish Social Values and the Editorial Committee of the International Journal of Applied Social Values.
For over four decades, Haim Shaked has been invited to participate as keynote speaker, lecturer or scholar-in-residence at classes, seminars, panels, lecture series, briefings, colloquia, symposia and conferences on the Middle East held in Israel, England, Canada, Mexico, India, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Jordan, Turkey, Puerto Rico and the United States. Professor Shaked has also served as a consultant on the Middle East to private and governmental bodies. In 2008, he participated in the Petra Nobel Laureate Conference under the auspices of King Abdullah II. In 2011, Dr. Shaked was invited to the Fez Conference of Nobel Laureates by his Majesty King Mohamad VI of Morocco. Dr. Shaked gave testimony on “Reclamation of the Dead Sea” to the U.S. House Committee on International Relations in May, 2004.
