Iranian Americans Establish Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University
November 19, 2012, Princeton, NJ – Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani have contributed a $10 million gift to Princeton University to establish a center focused on Iran and the Persian Gulf. The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies Center will provide a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach to the region, with special attention to its significance for the contemporary world.
The center’s scholars and students will explore a broad range of topics, including issues in which Iran and the Persian Gulf states play a pivotal role, such as regional and international security, oil and energy markets, and trade and global finance. Faculty members and visiting scholars will conduct research and teach courses that address the history, politics, economics and culture of the region, from ancient Persia to the modern states that border on the Gulf.
“We are very grateful to Sharmin and Bijan for making this center possible,” said Princeton president Shirley M. Tilghman. “Both as a university and as a nation, it is essential that we cultivate a fuller understanding of Iran and the other countries of the Persian Gulf, given their rich culture, geopolitical importance, and the troubled history of American-Iranian relations. As technology binds the world more closely together, we must develop the intellectual tools to match this new proximity and to foster in our students a cosmopolitan perspective. The Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies promises to make a significant contribution to this process.”
Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, an oil and gas executive who serves concurrently as chairman and chief executive officer of RAK Petroleum in the United Arab Emirates and executive chairman of Norway’s DNO International, and Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer of the Private Wealth Management Group at Goldman Sachs, have both generously donated to the PAAIA mentorship program in the past.
Click here to read more about Sharmin and Bijan’s donation to Princeton University and their discussion of the long history between Princeton and Iran.
