Provost Paul N. Courant and LSA Dean Terrence J. McDonald are recommending Board of Regent approval of Mark Tessler for the position of vice provost for international affairs and director of the International Institute.
Tessler is the Samuel J. Eldersveld Collegiate Professor of Political Science and professor of political science in LSA, and is director of the Center for Political Studies in the Institute for Social Research. The new appointment will take effect July 1, pending board approval.
“Mark Tessler brings to this position a wealth of experience in the field of political science and international studies,” Courant says. “I am confident he will be a superb leader for international affairs at Michigan. I look forward to his leadership as we build upon our efforts to bring students and scholars to Michigan from around the world, and as we send our students from here to learn about other parts of the world.”
Courant says Tessler will be responsible for coordination of international programs and initiatives across the University, including programs for visiting scholars, scientists, artists and public leaders, and those for student study abroad. He also will be charged with stimulating interdisciplinary international activities, and with building relationships with international and U.S. agencies and organizations, and peer institutions.
Tessler is an expert on the Middle East and North Africa, particularly with regard to policies and strategies of its governments and political leaders.
“Mark is a pioneer in the development of cross national survey research in that area of the world,” McDonald says. “He has attended universities and/or conducted field research in Tunisia, Israel, Morocco, Egypt and Palestine (West Bank and Gaza). He is one of few American scholars to have studied and lived for extended periods in both the Arab world and Israel.”
Tessler’s research deals with the nature, determinants and implications of political attitudes held by ordinary citizens. Currently he is analyzing public opinion data from six Middle Eastern countries, giving prominent attention to attitudes and values relating to democracy, Israeli-Palestinian peace, political Islam and gender.
He came to U-M in 2001 after serving the University of Arizona as a professor of political science, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and head of the Department of Near Eastern Studies. Prior to the Arizona position, he was on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin, where he was chair of the Department of Political Science, director of the International Studies major and director of the Joint Center for International Studies—the latter of which served the Milwaukee and Madison campuses.
Tessler received his bachelor’s degree from Case Western Reserve University and his doctorate from Northwestern University. He also studied at the University of Tunis and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
He is president of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers at the Smithsonian Institution and a member the steering committee of the Palestinian American Research Center. He also is editor of the Indiana University Press series in Middle East Studies and is past president of the Association for Israel Studies.
