CURRICULUM VITAE
Nevada State College
leila.pazargadi at nsc.edu
Education
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Comparative Literature, June 2012
Certification of Concentration, University of California, Los Angeles
Women’s Studies, June 2009
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Comparative Literature, May 2007
Major Fields: Postcolonial Literature, Anglophone Literature
Minor Fields: Persian Literature, Film and Feminism
B.A., Occidental College, Los Angeles
English and Comparative Literary Studies, May 2004
Thesis: “Exiled Identity: Women Writing About the 1979 Iranian Revolution”
Advisors: Warren Montag, Deborah Martinson and Julie Prebel
University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland,
French Language Courses. Certified in B2 Intermediate Level, Summer 2007
Dehkhoda Linguistic Institute, Tehran, Iran
Persian Language Institute: Certified in Advanced reading and writing, Summer 2006
Contemporary Studies in Paris, CIEE, Paris, France
Study Abroad Program, Spring 2003
Languages
Persian: Heritage speaker. Fluent speaker, certified in advanced reading and writing
French: Certified in intermediate speaking, reading and writing
Academic Honors & Awards
Faculty of the Year Award, Humanities, Nevada State College, April 2018
Research Fellow, Summer Scholarship Institute, Nevada State College, 2017
Erica J. Murray ’01 Young Alumna of the Year Seal Award, Occidental College, 2014
Excelencia! Honorable Mention for promising new program (Nepantla Program at NSC), 2014
iTeach Heritage Award, NSC, 2014
Dissertation Year Fellowship, UCLA, 2011 – 2012
Collegium of University Teaching Fellows, 2011 – 2012, declined
Center for the Study of Women Travel Grant, UCLA, Spring 2011
Distinguished Teaching Award, Nominee, UCLA, February 2011
Constance Coiner Award, UCLA, April 2010
Distinguished Teaching Award, Nominee, February 2010
Foreign Language and Area Studies Scholarship (FLAS) for Persian, 2008 – 2009
Houtan Scholarship Foundation, Iranian Studies Scholarship, Falls 2008, 2009 and 2010
Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, UCLA, Summer 2008
Center for the Study of Women Travel Grant, UCLA, Spring 2006
Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, UCLA, Summer 2007
Comparative Literature Fellowship, UCLA, 2005 – 2006
Publications
Book
Mosaics of Identity: Reading Muslim Women's Memoirs From Across the Diaspora, in progress.
Scholarly Article
“Picturing Qajar Persia: A Gift to Major-General Henry Creswicke Rawlinson” Leila Moayeri Pazargadi and Frances Terpak, Getty Research Journal, 5, 2014 (47-62).
“Narratives of Iranian Acculturation: Exploring Whiteness in Firoozeh Dumas’ Memoirs,” Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (revising for resubmission).
Solicited Articles
“Diary of a Graduate Student: The Seasonal Musings of an Aspiring Academic.” Center for the Study of Women Newsletter, UCLA, February 2011
“From Our Doorstep: Contemporary Politics.” Rev. of Thinking Gender Conference, Center for the Study of Women Newsletter,
April 2009
“Traveling Between Iranian and American Identities.” Center for the Study of Women Newsletter, March 2007
Invited Talks and Guest Lectures
“Exporting Islamophobia through the “Veiled best-seller:” The Rise and Fall of Muslim women’s post-9/11 memoirs.” Invited panelist, American Comparative Literary Association Conference, Seattle, March 2015
“Exploring Feminist Landscapes through World Literature.” Keynote Speaker, Colloque Internationale, University of Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, France, December 2011
“Teaching Diversity through Ethnic-American literature,” Guest Speaker, ECHO Conference on Educational Diversity, Utrecht, The Netherlands, November 2011
Guest Lecturer for Arab Women Writers with Dr. Hanan Elsayed, Occidental College: The Works of Mohja Kahf, Spring 2011
“Marketing ‘Honor Killing’ Memoirs: Confronting ‘Western’ Depictions of Muslim Women.”
Plenary Speaker, Conference on Gender and Power in the Muslim World, Sarah Lawrence College, Yonkers, New York, March 2009
Guest Lecturer for 2CW with Dr. Magdalena Edwards: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (in French and English), Spring 2009
Guest Lecturer for 2CW with Dr. Magdalena Edwards: The Rubaiyat of Omaar Khayyam (in both Persianand English), Fall 2008
Guest Lecturer for 2CW with Dr. Kathleen Komar: The Doctor’s Wife by Sawako Ariyoshi, Fall 2006
Conference Presentations
“‘Scuse Me While I Whip This Out”: Unveiling Feminist Frameworks in the Classroom,” National Women's Studies Association Conference: Feminist Transgressions, San Juan, PR, November 2014
“Arab American Autobiofiction: Writing the Self in Mohja Kahf’s Poetry and Fiction,” International Association for Biography and Autobiography (IABA), Banff, Canada, May 2014
“Mosaics of Identity: Reading Muslim Women’s Memoirs from Across the Diaspora,” ACLA, New York City, March 2014
"The Cross-Cultural Narrative Exchange: Bridging Online Global Learning Communities," HUIC, Honolulu, June 2013
“Writing Against the ‘Scarf Affair’: Recuperating the Veil and Dislocating Muslim Women’s Victimhood in Mohja Kahf’s Fiction,” Presenter, Modern Language Association, Boston, January 2013
“Mosaics of Identity: Exploring Muslim Americans in Mohja Kahf’s Post-9/11 Fiction,” Presenter, Modern Language Association, Boston, January 2013
“Representations of the Self: Dialoguing Middle Eastern Women Writers.” Seminar Organizer, Moderator and Presenter,
American Comparative Literature Association Conference, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, April 2011
“Muslim American Autobiofiction: Writing the Self in Mohja Kahf’s Poetry.” Presenter, Modern Language Association,
Los Angeles, CA., January 2011
“The Mohajer’s Memoir: Fictional Autobiography and Autobiofiction in Arab American Literature.” Presenter, Middle
Eastern Studies Association, San Diego, CA, November 2010
“What’s So Funny?: Investigating Humor in the Memoirs of Firoozeh Dumas and Marjane Satrapi” Conference Organizer
and Presenter, Eighth Biennial Conference, International Society of Iranian Studies, Santa Monica, CA., May 2010
“The Womb of the Universe: Figuring Woman as the Nation in Goli Taraghi’s Khanehi dar Aseman.”
Seventh Biennial Conference on Iranian Studies, Toronto, Canada, August 2008
“Repackaging Memoirs: The Graphic as Testimonial in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.”
American Comparative Literature Association, Long Beach, CA, April 24-27, 2008
“Packaging Identities: ‘Exotifying’ Iranian Women Writers in the Diaspora.” Middle Eastern Studies
Association Conference, Montreal, Canada, November 2007.
“Exiled Identity: Women Writers Renegotiating Iranian and American Identities.” Thinking Gender
Conference, Los Angeles, UCLA, February 2007
“Iranian Women Writing in Exile.” Sixth Biennial Conference on Iranian Studies, School of Oriental and
African Studies (SOAS), University of London, August 2006
Research Experience
Getty Research Institute, Getty Museum, Los Angeles CA
Research Assistant January 2012 – June 2012
- Research in French and English for Katharine Baetjer and Michael Roth.
Research Assistant September 2010 – Present
- Research in French for Dr. Olivier Lugon from Lausanne University, Switzerland. Duties include researching, reading and translating from French to English.
University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Research Assistant, April 2008 – April 2009
Minasian Project, YRL Department of Special Collections, UCLA
- Created catalog records, metadata and a finding aid for the Caro Minasian Collections of Persian manuscripts, held by the Department of Special Collections. This included the translation and digitization of almost 100,000 manuscript pages as part of the research team. Worked with web programmers to create a “visual research environment.”
Researcher June 2008 – August 2008
- Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, Department of Comparative Literature, UCLA
Research Summer Grant of $5,200 to complete research project: “The Iranian Cinematic Gaze: Women, Film and Feminism”
Teaching Experience
Nevada State College, Henderson, NV, Fall 2012 to Present
Assistant Professor
- Asian American Literature, ENG 490
- Comic Spirit, ENG 231
- English Composition, ENG101 & 102
- Ethnic American Literature, ENG 497A
- Ethnic American Studies, ETS 101
- Middle Eastern Literature: Seeking Shahrazad, ENG 485
- Postcolonial Literature, ENG 497A
- Postcolonial Literature: Rewriting Empire, ENG 486A
- Gothic Horror Literature, ENG 449B
University of California, Center for Study in Paris, France, Fall 2011
Teaching Fellow
- French Cinema. Facilitated film screenings and assisted Dr. Mark Cerisuelo with lectures.
Responsible for all grading and discussion during office hours.
Vrije University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Summers 2010 and 2011
Visiting Lecturer for a week long summer program in Amsterdam, 2011 & 2012
Guest Lecturer on Orientalism and Neo-Orientalist Revivals, 2010
California State University, Long Beach, Springs 2011 and 2012
Lecturer (Designed/ Taught Core Curriculum Course)
- “The Comic Spirit: Comparative Literature 320i.” Literary survey course on comedy from
the 4th Century B.C.E to the 21st Century A.C.E.
Occidental College, Los Angeles, Fall 2009
Adjunct Faculty, English and Comparative Literary Studies Department (Upper Division Course)
- “The Footprints of Colonialism: Tracing Empire in Modern British Literature.” Course on British
literary works spanning the early 18th century to the late 20th century.
University of California, Los Angeles, 2006 - 2011
Teaching Assistant Consultant, Comparative Literature, 2009 – 2011 (Designed/Taught Graduate Student Seminar)
- Comparative Literature 495: Facilitated and managed the teaching assistants of the department for the past two years. Trained the incoming TAs in a Pedagogical Instructional Course CL 495, designed around my own syllabus.
Teaching Fellow, Comparative Literature, 2009-2011 (Designed/Taught Upper Division Seminar)
Designed courses instructing in literature and intensive writing
- Comparative Literature 4DW: The Mohajer’s Memoir: Exploring Self Writing in Arab and Iranian Immigrant
Women’s Life Narratives - Comparative Literature 4CW: “Women Writing From the Margins: The Literary Representation of Women From
the Age of Enlightenment to the 20th Century” - Comparative Literature 4DW: “Comedic Masks, Tragic Faces: Investigating Arab and Iranian Immigrant Women’s
Life Narratives.”
English Composition Instructor, Academic Advancement Program, Summers 2008, 2009 and 2010
Designed and taught English Composition 3 for the Freshman Student Summer Programs
- “Confronting Empire: Immigrant, Refugee and Exile Writers after Decolonization,” 2010
“Literature of Resistance & Revolution: Postcolonial Perspectives,” 2009 - “Literatures of Movement &Migration: Exploring the ‘Third World’ Perspective,” 2008
Teaching Associate, Comparative Literature, 2007 - 2008
- Comparative Literature 2CW – Age of the Enlightenment to the Present (writing intensive 2 quarters)
- Comparative Literature 1D – Great Books from the World At Literature (1 quarter).
Teaching Assistant, Comparative Literature, 2006 - 2007
- Comparative Literature 2CW – Age of the Enlightenment to the Present (2 quarters), Comparative
Literature 2DW – Great Books from the World At Literature (1 quarter).
Pedagogical Training
Writing Programs 495 Pedagogical Course, UCLA, Winter 2010
Office of Instructional Development Course for Teaching Assistant Consultants, UCLA, Fall 2009
English Department 495B Pedagogical Course, UCLA, Fall 2008
Comparative Literature 495 Pedagogical Course, UCLA, Fall 2006
Academic and Community Service
Member at Large, American Association of University Professors, 2014-2016
Vice President of Membership, Nevada Faculty Alliance, 2013-2015
Board Member, International Society for Iranian Studies, 2010-2012
Elected for a two-year term as a Student Representative.
Founder and Coordinator, UCLA, Academic Advancement Program International Lectureship
Exchange, 2010. Founded this program, which allows for AAP lectures to guest speak abroad.
Co-organizer and moderator, Comparative Literature, UCLA Graduate Student Conference, 2010
Co-organizer and contributor, Comparative Literature Website Initiative, UCLA 2010
Curriculum Designer and Seminar Instructor, Office of Instructional Development Teaching
Assistant Conference, UCLA 2009 and 2010
Conference Organizer, “Ports of Call Conference,” Comparative Literature, UCLA, March 2010
Co-organizer, lecturer and moderator, “The Green Movement: The Election Crisis in Iran”,
Occidental College. Organized and presented at Iranian election crisis lecture and speaker series, 2010
Founding Member, Comparative Literature Graduate Student Committee, UCLA, 2008-2009
Research Assistant, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, September 2010 – Present
Research Assistant, Minasian Project, YRL Department of Special Collections, UCLA, April 2008 –09
Professional Associations
Nevada Faculty Alliance
American Association of University Professors
American Comparative Literature Association
International Auto/Biography Association
International Society for Iranian Studies
Middle Eastern Studies Association
Modern Language Association
Research & Teaching Interests
Postcolonial Literature. Gender Studies. Middle Eastern Studies. Ethnic American Literature. Exile and Diaspora Studies.
Memoir and Autobiography. Persian Literature. Visual Studies and New Media.
