On November 13, 2025, the centenary of the late Professor Yuri Bregel’s birth, dozens of faculty, students, CEUS alumni, and Yuri’s family members convened in Bloomington. The international workshop – on new directions in the study of Islamic Central Asia – was organized by Professor Ron Sela (CEUS) and the Islamic Studies Program.
Workshop participants offered a critical reassessment of Bregel’s scholarly legacy and its continuing methodological relevance, and presented new research, aimed at showcasing work grounded in meticulous linguistic, archival, and manuscript-based study. The final panel featured a discussion on the challenges that the field faces today, and proposed more collaborative networks (covering the Big Ten Academic Alliance) and training pathways that could lead to the production of valuable scholarly outputs and more sustainable training of doctoral students.
