Meet a Colleague: Anthony Edwards Anthony Edwards is an associate professor of Arabic.

W&L News Office
May 15, 2024

Q. How long have you worked at W&L?
I came to W&L nine years ago and founded the Arabic language program.

Q. What courses are you teaching this term?
I’m teaching ARAB 112: First-Year Arabic II and ARAB 162: Second-Year Arabic II.

Q. What is your favorite course to teach, and why? 
I enjoy teaching ARAB 225: Arabic Dialects. Every time I teach the course, I learn something new and am reminded why I’m addicted to the language.

Q. What do you like most about working at W&L?
I value the small class sizes and opportunities to develop meaningful relationships with students.

Q. What advice do you have for students?
Take classes outside your comfort zone and explore new topics. College is the last time in life — unless you become an academic — when your job is just to learn, question and think.

Q. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
Anything outdoors! I’m an avid runner and hiker.

Q. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Central and Southern California.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to become an Egyptologist. I was (and still am) fascinated by the Pyramids of Giza, the Temple of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings. I studied Egyptian hieroglyphics for a semester in Cairo and have been inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu twice!

Q. What is the most adventurous thing that you have ever done?
In 2019, I hiked the length of Lebanon with the Lebanon Mountain Trail Association. In 29 days (inclusive of one rest day), we traversed roughly 300 miles. A memorable moment was when we hiked in a snowstorm on a mountain alongside the Beirut-Damascus highway.

Q. What book are you reading now?
I’m currently reading “Bayrūt Madīnat al-ʿĀlam (Beirut: City of the World)” by Rabee Jaber. It’s a historical fiction novel about Lebanese culture and society over the past two centuries.

Q. What is the website you visit most often and why?
It’s a tossup between The New York Times and al-Jazeera (Arabic). I like to stay abreast of current events.

Q. If you could live anywhere, where would you build your dream home?
I’d like to live in the mountains in Colorado so that I could run, hike and ski all the time.

Q. What is your favorite film (movie) of all time?
“The Manchurian Candidate” (1962) is at the top of my list. The acting is stellar and the topic unsettlingly prescient.

Q. If they made a movie about your life, who would play you?
Friends have told me that Adam Sandler or Jerry Seinfeld should portray me on the screen.

Q. What is your desert island food?
An In-n-Out Combo #1! A double-double cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and fresh onion with a side of fries. I’d substitute the soda with Maker’s Mark.