Marina Tolmacheva is Professor of History and past Director of the Asia Program at Washington State University. In 1998-2005 Tolmacheva served the WSU College of Liberal Arts as Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs. A specialist in medieval Arab history and Islamic civilization, she has authored and co-authored three books, contributed chapters to six more books and published over 50 articles and 75 book reviews in learned journals and encyclopedias. Her research explores the works of medieval Arab geographers and travelers, among them the famous Ibn Battuta. Tolmacheva writes about the ancient heritage of Arabic geography and cartography, especially Ptolemy's Geography, and researches the pilgrimage and travel in the pre-modern Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. She has also published on Muslim women and on Islamic historiography of Africa and Central Asia.

Tolmacheva received her undergraduate Degree with Distinction from St. Petersburg University and Ph.D. in History from the Russian Academy of Sciences. A recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, Tolmacheva has traveled to the Middle East and Asia since 1964 and served as lecturer and interpreter on more than 20 travel tours. In 1998 she was Visiting Professor at the pre-eminent French academic center, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. In 2003 Tolmacheva was awarded the Honorary Professorship by the Institute of Eastern Languages and Cultures of the National Pedagogical University of Kyrgyzstan. A former Fulbright Fellow, she is currently a Fellow of the Open Society Institute International Higher Education Support Program (2005-2006).