BA, MA, University of Cambridge
PHD, University of Cambridge

Leila Ahmed was appointed to the Harvard Divinity School in 1999, the first professor of women's studies in religion, and was appointed to the Victor S. Thomas chair in 2003. She has offered courses in the Study of Religion (FAS) since 2001 and has served on the Committee on the Study of Religion from 2007 to 2010. Prior to her appointment at HDS, she was professor of women's studies and Near Eastern studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. While at the University of Massachusetts, she was director of the women's studies program from 1992 to 1995 and director of the Near Eastern studies program from 1991 to 1992. Her latest book, A Border Passage, has been widely acclaimed. Her other publications include the books Women and Gender in Islam: The Historical Roots of a Modern Debate and Edward William Lane: A Study of His Life and Work and of British Ideas of the Middle East in the Nineteenth Century, as well as many articles, among them "Arab Culture and Writing Women's Bodies" and "Between Two Worlds: The Formation of a Turn of the Century Egyptian Feminist." Her current research and writing centers on Islam in America and issues of women and gender.

Research and Emeritus Faculty are not taking new doctoral students