Virginia H. Aksan (born 1946) is a Canadian historian whose main research interest is the Ottoman Empire. She is an honorary member of the Turkish Historical Society.
Career and education Aksan completed her bachelor's degree at Allegheny College in the United States when she was learning Turkish language at Princeton University. In the following years she completed her master's and doctorate degree at the University of Toronto.
Aksan is a faculty member of history at McMaster University. Currently, she holds the role of Professor Emeritus. In 2019, she received the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Mentoring Award for her support of students in her department.
Aksan was the president of the Ottoman Turkish Studies Association (OTSA) from 2000-2002 and MESA in 2009.
Works An Ottoman Statesman in War and Peace: Ahmed Resmi Efendi, 1700–1783 (Leiden, E.J. Brill, 1995) Ottomans and Europeans: Contacts and Conflicts (Istanbul, Isis, 2004) Ottoman Wars, 1700–1870: An Empire Besieged (Hammersmith: Pearson/Longman, 2007) The Early Modern Ottomans: Remapping the Empire, w/Daniel Goffman (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Awards
2019, MESA Mentoring Award 2015, MESA Jere L. Bacharach Service Award
References