About MES

Mindful of an increasingly complex and culturally diverse national and global society, the Department of Middle Eastern Studies is committed to the preparation of students for intellectual leadership in their selected field and in the professions that they will pursue in the course of their lives.

The Department promotes specialized knowledge and broad understanding of the Middle East, a dynamic region of the world that includes the Arab states, Iran, Israel, and Turkey and whose influence extends into Central Asia, North Africa, and other world regions. The Department seeks to provide its majors and the University community at large with a learning environment of the highest quality, produced by instructional programs with a solid academic foundation and delivered by a faculty with extensive experience and world-class credentials. 

The departmental faculty and staff support our students through a rigorous course of study and strive to increase in them the awareness of the need to assume personal responsibility for their actions and develop habits of self-reliance and a passion for lifelong learning.

At the undergraduate level, the Department of Middle Eastern Studies offers majors in Arabic, Hebrew, Islamic Studies, Persian, and Turkish, and also serves students who choose to minor in these areas or enroll in individual language and culture courses.  Through the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, an independent academic unit housed within the Department, an interdisciplinary undegraduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies is offered. 

The programs offered by the Department focus on developing a strong knowledge base rooted in the disciplines of the humanities and the social sciences, and on providing students with the optimal environment in which they can grow as free thinkers, active citizens, community builders, and outstanding professionals. 

At the graduate level, the Department of Middle Eastern Studies offers MA and PhD degrees in Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian Studies, while the Center offers an MA in Middle Eastern Studies.  The departmental graduate programs develop a strong knowledge base in their students, preparing them for leadership positions as professionals in areas such as journalism, translation, business, and international law, and for careers as scholars and teachers at institutions of higher education in the US, the Middle East, and other world regions.

Focusing on the region as a whole, the Department encourages its students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to explore languages, cultures, and other areas that are beyond their immediate major or area of study, and broaden their interest to include the whole span of eras covered by our curricula, from antiquity to modern times.