The Middle East studies certificate introduces undergraduate students to a multidisciplinary course of study that provides them with an informed overview of the history, civilizations, religions, politics, geographies, and economic factors that shape the cultural landscape of this dynamic and often volatile region.

The certificate provides in-depth training in a special area that may be particularly useful as students pursue careers in a variety of fields. These can include academia, law, public history, education, business, and even medicine, where they will practice their profession abroad or use their international experience to expand their understandings of these regions as they work with topics on or populations from diverse societies in the Middle East.

Students interested in declaring the undergraduate certificate should contact the IRIS Assistant Director for Students and Curriculum.

Certificate Requirements

18 credits are required, as follows:

Core course

Middle Eastern language course

One course required from:

HISTORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE Courses

One course required from:

RELIGION AND CULTURE Courses

One course required from:

electives

Additional course work from the categories above, or the following may be used to meet reach the minimum 18 credits required. ¹

Residence and quality of work

• A minimum of 9 Certificate credits must be in residence
• Minimum 2.000 GPA in all Certificate courses

Certificate COMPLETION REQUIREMENT

This undergraduate certificate must be completed concurrently with the student’s undergraduate degree. Students cannot delay degree completion to complete the certificate.

1. (Historical and Cultural Grounding) understanding the historical, political, and cultural forces and conditions that have given rise to the unity and diversity in the region today.
2. (Multi-disciplinarity) analyzing contemporary political, economic, and cultural realities in the region from at least two disciplinary perspectives, ideally including humanities, social sciences and sometimes natural science approaches.
3. (Depth of knowledge) mastering at the undergraduate generalist level a particular facet of life in the region by taking courses on a particular sub-region or country, or by studying a regional language, or by taking at least two courses on the region in one discipline.

Advising for the certificate is run by the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS). The IRIS Assistant Director for Students and Curriculum can assist you in developing your plan of study for the certificate, track progress toward your certificate, explore study abroad and international internship options, and begin the career exploration process.  We offer walk-in advising, advising workshops, and scheduled appointments. We strongly encourage students to begin career exploration early on and to make use of the many resources available on campus.

Resources:

• Language and International Directions Advising (Language Institute)
• International Internship Program

L&S career resources

SuccessWorks at the College of Letters & Science helps students leverage the academic skills learned in their major, certificates, and liberal arts degree; explore and try out different career paths; participate in internships; prepare for the job search and/or graduate school applications; and network with professionals in the field (alumni and employers). In short, SuccessWorks helps students in the College of Letters & Science discover themselves, find opportunities, and develop the skills they need for success after graduation.

SuccessWorks can also assist students in career advising, résumé and cover letter writing, networking opportunities, and interview skills, as well as course offerings for undergraduates to begin their career exploration early in their undergraduate career. 

Students should set up their profiles in Handshake to take care of everything they need to explore career events, manage their campus interviews, and apply to jobs and internships from 200,000+ employers around the country.

• SuccessWorks
• Set up a career advising appointment
• INTER-LS 210 L&S Career Development: Taking Initiative (1 credit, targeted to first- and second-year students)—for more information, see Inter-LS 210: Career Development, Taking Initiative
• INTER-LS 215 Communicating About Careers (3 credits, fulfills Com B General Education Requirement)
• Handshake
• Learn how we’re transforming career preparation: L&S Career Initiative

Middle East Studies Program Steering Committee: El Nossery, Layoun, Pruitt, Quraishi-Landes, Shelef.

As a regional center within the Institute for Regional and International Studies, we support and enhance international and global awareness in our student communities and inspire informed thinking about the complexities of our world. We encourage our students to connect to international networks and our regional communities through our program’s lecture series, film screenings, and varied outreach events and activities. We encourage our students to study abroad, do international internships, and learn foreign languages, and we expect them to gain an interdisciplinary grounding in global and regional affairs. We provide resources and expertise on our world area to students, and prospective students, and more broadly to K–12 teachers and students, postsecondary educators and graduate students, businesses, the media, the military, the community at large, and anyone else who is interested.

Information about funding through the Middle East Studies Program is available on our website. We also encourage our students to explore funding options available through the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) Awards Office.