Sean Foley is an Associate Professor of History at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).  He specializes in the Middle East and religious and political trends in the broader Islamic world.  Before coming to MTSU in 2006, he taught at Georgetown University, where he earned an M.A. in Arab Studies in 2000 and a Ph.D. in History in 2005.  Foley held Fulbright fellowships in Syria and Turkey in 2002 and 2003 and a fellowship from the Smith Richardson Foundation from 2007 until 2010.  He has published widely on Middle Eastern history, Sufism, and Muslims in Euro-American history.  He regularly presents his work in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States. He also contributes columns to The Atlantic, The New Straits Times (Malaysia), The Daily Zaman (Turkey) and The Tennessean.  He has appeared as a commentator on Al-Jazeera television, Voice of America, and other television networks.  His book with Lynne Rienner Press, The Arab Gulf States: Beyond Oil and Islam, was published in March 2010.  Finally, Dr. Foley is a Fulbright research scholar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia until December 2011.