Middle Eastern Studies

The mission of the department is the discovery, interpretation, dissemination, and preservation of human values created over a period of five or more thousand years in an area that was the cradle of all civilization. The academic program provides an interdisciplinary approach to studying the history, culture, politics, geography, economics, language, and philosophy of the region. The major covers a range of nations from Morocco through Iran and creates a framework for developing different perspectives on the regions complex past to its equally complex present.

Students can choose from either a range of modern Middle Eastern Languages including Arabic, Persian, and Turkish or choose an ancient language from the region such as Coptic, Akkadian, Old Egyptian, and Aramaic. The elective requirements for the major give students the option of exploring other major academic disciplines including art history, economics, political science, ethnomusicology, and French. Students who are passionate enough about the region can petition to take an independent study/directed research course that focuses on a main topic in the Middle East.

Moreover, our department hosts a variety of events and presentations from world-renowned professors that discuss pressing issues of the Middle East. The G.E. von Gruneabaum Center for Near Eastern Studies houses a number of resources that ambitious students can utilize for their scholarly research. Being the second largest Near Eastern Studies facility in North America, the center provides an intellectual hub for scholars to share pertinent information about the Middle East for high-quality research for all.