OLLU's Dr. Christopher Rose Receives MEOC 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award

The Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC ) has named Dr. Christopher Rose, Assistant Professor and Program Head of History at Our Lady of the Lake University, as a recipient of its 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. This prestigious honor recognizes his scholarship, leadership, and more than two decades of dedicated service to the Council and the field of Middle Eastern Studies.

Dr. Rose is a nationally recognized historian whose work focuses on the social history of medicine in the Middle East. His current book project, Home Front Egypt: Famine, Disease, and Death during the Great War, examines how wartime policies in colonial Egypt fueled hunger and disease-research supported by a Fulbright U.S. Scholars grant. He has published widely on topics such as cholera, pandemic flu, and public health policy, and at OLLU he shares this expertise through his teaching in world history and mentorship of students.

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Rose has had a long and impactful career in educational outreach. From 2000 to 2016, he served as Assistant Director at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where he expanded outreach programming, developed curriculum resources, and conducted educator workshops across the country. A public historian, he has also co-hosted podcasts, organized study tours, and developed innovative ways to make Middle Eastern history accessible to educators and students alike.

Within MEOC, Dr. Rose has served in numerous leadership roles-including President (2014-2018), Past President, Treasurer, and Nominations Chair-where he played an instrumental role in supporting initiatives such as the annual MEOC Book Awards program. His leadership and commitment have helped strengthen the organization and advance its mission of promoting accurate, engaging resources on the Middle East for classrooms nationwide.

Dr. Rose will be honored during MEOC's virtual General Business Meeting on Tuesday, September 2. OLLU is proud to celebrate this well-deserved recognition of his scholarship, leadership, and service.