Beth Baron is a professor and the director of the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center at the City University of New York (CUNY). She is also the current president (2015‐2017) of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Her published books include The Orphan Scandal: Christian Missionaries and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood (2014), Egypt as a Woman: Nationalism, Gender, and Politics (2005), and The Women’s Awakening in Egypt: Culture, Society, and the Press (1994).