Olga M. Davidson is a visiting associate professor in the Middle Eastern Studies program at Wellesley College, where her teaching focuses on Persian and Arabic languages and literature. Prior to joining Wellesley, she served as chair of the concentration in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University and also taught in the women's studies program. She is the author of Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings and Comparative Literature and Classical Persian Poetry — both translated into Persian — and has published numerous academic articles. Besides her academic duties, she serves as chair of the board at the Ilex Foundation. Olga M. Davidson earned her Ph.D. in 1983 from Princeton University in Near Eastern Studies. She is on the faculty of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations, Boston University, where she has served as Research Fellow since 2009. From 1992 to 1997, she was Chair of the Concentration in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University.