Courses Taught

• HIS 100: The World Since 1900
• HIS 101: History of Civilization I
• HIS 300: Varieties of History
• HIS 308: Intro to the Islamic World
• HIS 397: Women & Gender In the Islamic World
• HIS 411: The Middle East to 1700
• HIS 412: The Middle East since 1600
• HIS 509: The Modern Middle East and the West

About Me

Professor Urban (Ph.D. The University of Chicago, 2012) joined the WCU history department in 2014, making her one of the newest members of the department. She has diverse interests in the field of Islamic history, including gender, slavery, travel literature, and political thought. Most recently, she has written about the important role slave women played in early Islamic politics. While she specializes in the medieval period, she also teaches courses on the modern Middle East and contemporary issues in the Islamic world.

Prof. Urban has had several opportunities to travel to the Middle East, most recently in May 2015, when she traveled to Turkey with several other WCU faculty members. She hopes to be able to take students on a study abroad trip to Turkey in the near future. She has also visited the Arab world (Egypt, Tunisia, Syria), and she is delighted to share her love of Arabic language, culture, music, and food with students.

In addition to studying Arabic texts and preparing exciting new courses in Islamic history, Prof. Urban enjoys cooking Tex Mex food and calling people "y'all." If you ask her what state she is from, she will probably tell you.