I was born in Ahvaz, Iran in 1967 and immigrated to the United States in 1984 after a brief interlude in Switzerland and Cyprus. After completing high school in Southern California, I went on to nursing school while I worked a series of odd jobs. Then, I spent several years in the field of healthcare before I returned to college and majored in history. In 2004, I received my Master’s degree from California State University Fullerton, and continued my graduate studies at University of California Santa Barbara where I received my doctoral degree in 2010. Weeks later, my wife and I relocated to Chicago where I joined the history department at Northeastern Illinois University as an assistant professor.  I am now an associate professor and the Principal of The Mossadegh Initiative.

I live with my family a short distance from Northeastern. When not on campus, I spend all my time with the two most precious females in my life, Maryam and Maya.  One hour of speed walking in the wee hours of the morning keeps me energized, focused, and ready for the day.

Before emigrating, my family and I were forced to relocate after Iraq suddenly invaded Iran and began shelling my hometown from a short distance.  We became war-stricken (jang-zadeh). It was a devastating period in my young life. We settled in the central Iranian city of beautiful Esfahan- my ancestral home, where two years later my brother and I volunteered for the war. Four years into the war, I acquired my hyphenated identity as an Iranian-American when I settled in California, and that’s when the nagging question of “Why am I here?” began. That’s when I was drawn to history.  The deeper I searched for answers, the more complicated things got. I’m still searching for that answer. Looking into other histories and getting more interested to the point that I can’t wait to begin the day and search some more I can’t say life is bad. I count my blessings everyday.

Here is a video produced by University of Oklahoma when I was a fellow at The Farzaneh Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies in 2017. Although unrelated to the benefactors of the Center sharing the same last name has been fun.