Mahan Mirza

Executive Director, Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion
Teaching Professor

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Keough School of Global Affairs

Mahan Mirza is an Islamic studies scholar and expert on religious literacy. He brings extensive pedagogical and administrative experience to his role as executive director for the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, including serving as dean of faculty at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California — America’s first accredited Muslim liberal arts college. Immediately before his appointment to the Ansari Institute in 2019, he served as the lead faculty member for Notre Dame’s Madrasa Discourses project, which equips Islamic religious leaders in India and Pakistan with the tools to confidently engage with pluralism, modern science, and new philosophies. 

Mirza joined the University of Notre Dame in 2016 as professor of the practice for the Keough School’s Contending Modernities research initiative, a flagship program of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.