The first Director and Founder of the Center was Dr. Ragaei El Mallakh, Professor of Economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1956 until his death in 1987. He taught energy economics, economics of Africa and the Middle East, international economics, and economic planning and development as well as serving as dissertation director for 27 doctoral students. In research, Dr. El Mallakh authored or coauthored 13 books, edited/coedited 9 volumes, and contributed to more than 22 collected works, in addition to over 75 articles and book reviews in such publications as the American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Literature, Middle East Journal, Kyklos, Cultures et Developpement, International Development Review, Land Economics, Journal of Modern African Studies, The New Republic, The World Today, Middle East Economic Survey, and Rivista Internazionale de Scienze Economiche e Commerciali, as a sampling. He also served on the editorial boards of The Middle East Journal, International Journal of Middle East Studies, and American Journal of Arabic Studies and was a member of numerous organizations such as the U.S. National Committee on the World Petroleum Congresses and U.S. Delegation to the World Energy Conference.
