PROTOCOL
Middle East Studies Association
GLOBAL ACADEMY COMMITTEE (GAC)
April 2020
The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) Global Academy is an interdisciplinary initiative to sustain essential research collaborations and knowledge production among MENA-focused scholars from the region of the Middle East and North Africa and their counterparts outside the region.
The Global Academy awards competitive fellowships to displaced scholars from the MENA region to attend meetings, workshops and conferences, harnessing the strengths of MESA’s institutional and individual members to support the careers of individual researchers who study the Middle East and North Africa, but whose academic trajectory has been adversely affected by developments in their home countries.
The MESA Global Academy is supported by grants and sustained through a vast university network, with programming developed through critical support from faculty at partnering universities. In addition, the Global Academy draws upon key partnerships with dissemination partners and organizations that support displaced scholars.
The MESA Global Academy is led by a committee composed of MESA members. The chair of the Committee is appointed by the President of MESA upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors. The Committee consists of a chair; a representative of the MESA Board of Directors, appointed by the President and approved by the Board of Directors; and two to four additional members, per the recommendation of the chair and approval by the Board of Directors. The GAC chair serves a five-year renewable term; GAC members serve a three-year renewable term.
In addition, former GAC members may, at the suggestion of the GAC chair, be appointed by the Board to serve as consultants to the committee. GAC terms normally begin and end with the MESA annual meeting. Occasionally, however, new members may be recruited out of
cycle. In these cases, their terms will end at the annual meeting following the completion of three years. The MESA President and Executive Director serve as ex-officio members.
The Committee convenes in a formal meeting once a year at MESA’s annual meeting and meets regularly by phone conference to discuss grant initiatives, programming, the awarding of fellowships, among other matters, and regularly corresponds by email. The Committee works collectively to arrive at consensual decisions. Members are expected to bring expertise in fundraising, budget writing, center programming, and state of the art knowledge on the field. Administration for Committee programming is handled by the MESA Secretariat. The Board representative reports on the Committee’s activities at regular intervals to the Board. The initiation of new partnerships and fundraising activities are also subject to prior approval by the MESA President and Board of Directors.
