The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago is a National Resource Center for the study of a region extending from Morocco in the West to Kazakhstan in the East. Prior to the Center's formation, scholars originally received funding administered by Title VI of the US Department of Defense's National Defense Education Act. The University of Chicago did not form a center until 1965, well after the administration of funding was moved to the US Department of Education by Kennedy. This area center consistantly ranks in the highest tier of those dealing with Middle Eastern studies in the United States. In the recent competition for Department of Education's Title VI in 2006, the Center was awarded both NRC (National Resource Center) and FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) grants. The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) is a United States Act of Congress, passed in 1958 providing aid to education in the United States at all levels, both public and private. ... Middle Eastern Studies is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the culture, politics, economy, and geography of the Middle East, an area that is generally interpreted to cover a range of nations extending from North Africa in the west to the Chinese...

Program

In addition to serving as a meeting-place for all University members dealing with the Middle East, regardless of discipline, the Center also administers a two-year terminal Masters degree through either the Division of Humanities or the Division of Social Science. In the academic year 2006-07, the MA program ranks as the largest such program in the United States. A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...

Current Staff

Director: Martin Stokes

Assistant Director: Ada Holly Shissler

Associate Director: Rusty Rook

Project Assistant: Traci Lombre

Director of Public Education: Rasheed Hosein

External Link

Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago