Former Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute Fellow, Dr. Anousha Sedighi recently published Persian in Use: An Elementary Textbook of Language and Culture, an elementary textbook of Language and Culture designed for first-year Persian language students at the college level.
Persian in Use is a peer-reviewed textbook published by Leiden University Press as part of their Iranian Studies Series.

Publication includes over 200 illustrations and images. Persian in Use is an elementary Persian language and culture textbook designed for first-year Persian language students at college level. It offers a thematically organized and integrative approach to help students achieve proficiency in Persian language and culture. This publication is organized around high-frequency topics and provides a clear set of communication goals for each lesson.

Dr. Anousha Sedighi is Associate Professor of Persian and the coordinator of the Persian programs at Portland State University. She serves as President of the American Association of Teachers of Persian (AATP).

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Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute is proud to announce its support to Professor Mohammad-Ali Amir-Moezzi for the publication of the Qur’an of the Historians. This project will compliment his earlier publication: Dictionary of the Qur’an, another project supported by Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute in 2007. The latter project includes new research contributed by multiple scholars and specialists from around the world.

The Qur’an of the Historians is distinct for its objective approaches to the subject, which includes critical research, based on historical and philological study of multiple Islamic sources available. The objective of the Qur’an of the Historians is to provide a general audience with a clear, accessible, and at the same time scientific rigorous research.

Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute notes with deep regrets the passing of Dean James E. Alatis on February 28, 2015, at the age of 88. Dean Alatis provided valuable inspiration and guidance to the Institute, as a member of the Board of Directors and Vice President from 2000 and Emeritus Vice President since 2013.

Doctor Alatis was a brilliant scholar and administrator. He was associated with Georgetown University for nearly a half century. At Georgetown, he most recently served as Dean Emeritus of the School of Languages and Linguistics, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Modern Greek and Senior Advisor to the Dean of Georgetown College for International Language Programs and Research. Dean Alatis was also the Founding Father and Executive Director of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) for over 20 years.

Starting spring 2015, new Graduate Fellowships and Undergraduate Scholarships will be available to students in various departments and programs at the University of Maryland whose work in areas related to Persian Studies exhibits exceptional standards of academic excellence. These new and rigorous Fellowships and Scholarships, made available to Roshan Institute for Persian Studies by a generous grant from Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, open unprecedented range of possibilities for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.

“Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art” showcases objects of Islamic art from the spectacular Honolulu home of philanthropist and art collector Doris Duke (1912-1993) and also includes new works by eight contemporary artists of Islamic background, all of whom have participated in Shangri La’s artist in residency program.

The works from Duke’s personal collection are being shown outside of Shangri La for the first time, in an exhibition that was organized on the centenary of her birth. After travelling nationally for two years, the show ends its journey in the objects’ “home”—Honolulu. Highlights include ceramic vessels and tiles from 11th–20th century Iran; inlaid wood and furniture from Spain, Syria, Iran, and India; Egyptian and Ottoman textiles; and jewelry from Mughal India. Large-scale, newly commissioned photographs by Tim Street-Porter establish the context of the legendary five-acre property of Shangri La. The contemporary works in the exhibition are by Ayad Alkadhi, Zakariya Amataya, Afruz Amighi, Shezad Dawood, Emre Hüner, Walid Raad, Shahzia Sikander and Mohamed Zakariya.