Edward E. Curtis, IV
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Curtis engages both national and local audiences in his public scholarship. The winner of two Emmys for his work as executive producer and writer of “Arab Indianapolis: A Hidden History” (2022), he has also consulted on and appeared as on-air talent in the “Great Muslim American Road Trip” and “American Muslims: A History Revealed.” Curtis has also taught Ivy Tech community college instructors and K-12 teachers how to integrate information about religion and Muslim American history and life across the curriculum. Curtis enjoys collaborating with multiple community partners, which include Nur Allah Islamic Center, the Arab Indianapolis Foundation, and Masjid Al-Mu’mineen.
His fourteen books have been called “essential,” “exemplary,” “approachable,” “groundbreaking,” “must-read,” “wonderful,” and “a model of clarity.” Muslims in America: A Short History (Oxford, 2009) was named one of the best 100 books of 2009 by Publishers Weekly, and Muslims of the Heartland: How Syrian Immigrants Made a Home in the American Midwest (New York University Press) won the 2023 Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Arab American Book Award from the Arab American National Museum.
Dr. Curtis is William M. and Gail M. Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts and Professor of Religious Studies at the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University, Indianapolis. He is the recipient of fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the American Academy of Religion, and the National Humanities Center.
His IUPUI ScholarWorks collections include his Emmy award-winning film, blog posts from the Arab Indianapolis community history project, popular writing, and pre-publication copies of his academic articles and book chapters.