Dr. Qamar-ul Huda named inaugural Michael E. Paul Distinguished Visiting Professor for International Studies

Dr. Qamar-ul Huda has been named the U.S. Naval Academy’s first Michael E. Paul Distinguished Visiting Professor for International Studies in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He will begin his tenure at the Academy in the spring semester in support of the new Foreign Area Studies major. The position was established last year with a significant philanthropic investment from Captain Stephen D. Chubb ’65, USNR (Ret.).

Dr. Huda comes to the Academy after serving as vice president and founding director of the program on Conflict, Stabilization and Development at the Center for Global Policy (CGP). Dr. Huda is fluent in Arabic and Urdu and has expertise in the culture and history in the Middle East.

Prior to joining CGP, he was a senior policy advisor to the U.S. Department of State Secretary John Kerry’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs. He served under Secretary Hillary Clinton as a secondee for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism as the first Director of the Department of Dialogue and Collaboration to Hedayah: The International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE).

"I found the Michael E. Paul Distinguished Visiting Professor for International Studies appealing because I would be able to share my practical experience in international relations as it relates to geopolitical changes and major challenges to U.S. foreign policy,” Huda said. “The opportunity to teach Naval Academy students key international relation areas facing American leadership will allow me to engage and mentor younger leadership to think strategically in complex and in multidimensional ways."

Chubb said the new Distinguished Visiting Professor for International Studies will provide a valuable perspective to midshipmen.

“The challenges of defending the United States that have arisen during the past 30 years demand that each service branch include joint objectives and operations with allies as essential elements of its mission,” Chubb said. “In addition, it is important for the Forces to develop an understanding of the traditions, values and intentions of potential adversaries. The Academy’s recognition that it is imperative that naval officers be proficient in addressing this worldview is the incentive for establishing the Foreign Area Studies major in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. The appointment of Professor Huda as the inaugural Michael E. Paul Distinguished Visiting Professor for International Studies establishes the high character of the mission and the rigor of the curriculum.”

Naval Academy Provost Dr. Andrew Phillips said in each of its first two years, the new Foreign Area Studies major has reached maximum capacity enrollment.

“Midshipmen clearly see the value and importance of this new program,” Phillips said. “With the addition of Dr. Qamar-ul Huda to our faculty as the inaugural holder of the Michael E. Paul Distinguished Visiting Professor for International Studies position, our midshipmen will be exposed to his extraordinary breadth and depth of expertise in the Middle East region. I’m very excited to see the impact that will have on their learning and opportunities for experiences abroad.”

Dr. Qamar-ul Huda will begin his tenure in the spring semester.