Dr Sikandar Hayat is Distinguished Professor of History and Public Policy and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences at Forman Christian College (A Chartered University). In 2014-17, he was Chair of the History Department. Earlier, in 2006-12, he was Directing Staff (Research) at the National Management College (formerly Pakistan Administrative Staff College) and Dean, National Institute of Public Policy at the National School of Public Policy, Lahore. In 1973-2006, he was faculty at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and, after serving for more than three decades, first at the Department of Pakistan Studies (founding faculty, till 1983) and later at the Department of History, he retired as Meritorious Professor and Chair of the Department of History. During this period, in 1991-1995, he was Education Counselor (Head of Education Division) at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC, United States of America (USA). In 1995-96, he was American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS) Scholar-in-Residence, and taught courses at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo) and Arkansas State University (Jonesboro). He was AIPS Pakistan Lecture Series Speaker in 1990, 1997, and 2003, and delivered lectures on Pakistan at some of the leading universities in USA. In 2006, he was invited to teach a course on ‘Politics and Islam’ at Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA, under Fulbright Visiting Specialist Program, ‘Direct Access to the Muslim World’.
Dr. Hayat has been member of a number of professional associations in the United States and Pakistan, including Association for Asian Studies (USA); Middle East Studies Association (USA); Annual Conference on South Asia, UW-Madison (USA); Pakistan Society of Development Economists (Islamabad); Council of Social Sciences (Islamabad); and Pakistan History Society (Karachi). He has participated in many national and international conferences, both at home and abroad, especially in the USA.
Research Interests:
Dr Hayat’s primary research interests are Pakistan/Pakistan Movement (Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah Studies); British Indian History; and Modern South Asia.
Publications (Recent):
In addition to numerous research papers, published in national and international journals, Dr Hayat’s most recent publications are:
- A Leadership Odyssey: Muslim Separatism and the Achievement of the Separate State of Pakistan (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2021).
- ‘The Charismatic Leader: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Creation of Pakistan, Oxford Pakistan Paperbacks, 2nded. (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2018). The first edition of the book was published in 2008, and is recipient of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) ‘Best Book Publication Award’ for Social Sciences and Humanities for books published in 2008-2009. The second, revised edition was published in 2014.
- Aspects of the Pakistan Movement, 3rd rev. ed. (Islamabad: National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research, 2016).
Currently, Dr Hayat is working on an edited volume tentatively titled, ‘Pakistan Studies: A Book of Readings,’ for college students in Pakistan (and abroad).