Nehemia Levtzion was an Israeli scholar of African history, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, and the President of the Open University of Israel from 1987 to 1992 and the Executive Director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute from 1994 to 1997. Levtzion was a scholar of African history, Near East, Islamic, and African studies, and especially Islam in Africa. He taught at (starting in 1965) and was Professor of History and Asian and African Studies and the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities (1978-1981) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Director of the Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East (1982-1987), the President of the Open University of Israel (1987-1992), the Executive Director of the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (1994-1997), and the Chairman of the Council for Higher Education in Israel’s Planning and Budgeting Committee (1997-2003). The Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies was established at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2004.