The Academic Steering Committee provides advice and counsel regarding the long-term academic goals of the Fares Center and helps to integrate the Fares Center's activities with other national and international institutions. The Academic Steering Committee consists of the following scholars:

Feroz Ahmad
Chair of the Department of International Relations and Political Science, Yeditepe University, Istanbul

Sir Christopher A. Bayly
Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, St. Catharine's College, University of Cambridge

Anne H. Betteridge
Associate Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Arizona

Selma Botman
President, University of Southern Maine

John L. Esposito
University Professor and Founding Director, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University

Robert Ilbert
Président, Institut Méditerranéen de Recherches Avancées (IMéRA)

Abdul-Karim Rafeq
William and Anne Bickers Professor of Arab Middle Eastern Studies, Department of History, College of William and Mary

Mark Tessler
Vice Provost for International Affairs, Samuel J. Eldersveld Collegiate Professor, Department of Political Science, and Director of the International Institute, University of Michigan