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IN MEMORIAM
MOHAMMAD ALI JAZAYERY
Dr. Mohammad Ali Jazayery, professor
emeritus of Persian and Middle Eastern languages and cultures, passed
away on November 11, 2000.
Professor Jazayery was born on May
27, 1924, in Shushtar, Iran. After receiving a BA in English from the
University of Tehran and another BA in education from the Teacher s
College of Iran, he taught English in a high school in Ahvaz, Iran.
In 1951, he came to The University of Texas at Austin as a Fulbright
scholar and received a PhD in linguistics in 1958. During the 1954-55
academic year, he worked on English and Persian textbooks at the American
Council of Learned Societies in Washington, D.C., and in 1958 he returned
to Iran and taught in the Department of English at the University of
Tehran. In 1959, he returned to the United States and became a member
of a team at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, working on compiling
Persian textbooks for speakers of English. In 1962, he returned permanently
to The University of Texas and started the Persian program. At the University,
Professor Jazayery was first appointed in the Department of English.
He was transferred to the Department of Linguistics when it was established
in 1965, and in 1969 he joined the newly-established Department of Oriental
and African Languages and Literatures.
Among his many services to the University,
Professor Jazayery also served as chair of the Department of Oriental
and African Languages and Literatures (1976-1984) and as director of
the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (1980-1987). He retired in 1990.
Professor Jazayery made many contributions
to his fields of interest, Persian language teaching and sociolinguistics.
In addition, he published numerous articles in English and Persian on
the subject of his lifelong interest, the work of Ahmad Kasravi. Professor
Jazayery was considered as the leading authority on this important historian
and social reformer.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner, President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
This memorial resolution was prepared by a special committee consisting
of Professors M. R. Ghanoonparvar (chair), Hafez Farmayan, and Ian
Manners.
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