MIT History Professor Takes Leadership Role

A professor who dedicates her career to understanding how communities survive and heal is now leading MIT's History Section into its next chapter.

Lerna Ekmekcioglu, the McMillan-Stewart Professor of History, officially became head of the section on July 1. She's been at MIT since 2011, researching how communities adapt, remember, and pursue justice after facing difficult political conditions.

Her work focuses on the modern Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, Armenian history, gender studies, and minority politics. From 2022 to 2025, she directed the Program in Women's and Gender Studies and remains an affiliated faculty member.

Ekmekcioglu takes over from Malick Ghachem, who led the section since 2023. Dean Agustín Rayo praised her as an exceptional scholar and proven leader who will guide the unit with thoughtfulness and wisdom.

What makes this appointment particularly special is the culture Ekmekcioglu inherits. "We have ambitious new initiatives, extraordinary faculty work, and a group of colleagues who actually like and trust one another," she says, noting that trust among academic colleagues isn't always a given.

The Bright Side

The department is launching exciting projects like the History of Now, started in 2025. Ekmekcioglu plans to ensure these initiatives remain sustainable, visible, and intellectually fruitful while supporting faculty research and expanding public engagement.

Her scholarship shows why she's the right person for this moment. Her first book explored the Armenian community in Turkey after the Armenian Genocide, examining how minorities navigate belonging in new political systems. It won the Outstanding Book Award from the Der Mugrdechian Society for Armenian Studies.

She's now finishing a second book on Armenian feminist thought and activism across empire, violence, and dispersion. Throughout her career, she's connected scholarship with teaching and public conversation, earning the James A. and Ruth Levitan Award for teaching excellence in 2016.

Ekmekcioglu sees her new role as both practical and intellectual: demonstrating why historical inquiry matters to MIT's mission while creating space for meaningful research and teaching. Her priority is sustaining and expanding the momentum already building in a department where collaboration thrives.