PROGRAMS
MIDDLE EAST STUDIES MAJOR - ABOUT
The Middle East Studies (MES) Program was established in 1994 following
a three-year planning period. The Letters and Science Executive Committee
approved the major in May 1995, and it was endorsed by CEPAP in October
1995.
The purpose of MES is twofold: 1) to grant a BA in Middle East Studies;
and 2) to help graduate students in the various disciplines to obtain appropriate
language and area-studies training as part of their degree programs, and
to provide needed graduate financial assistance. In addition, MES provides
funding and helps to coordinate lectures, colloquia, and visiting scholars.
With the exception of two lower-division core courses, courses for the
BA are drawn from those already offered through various departments in
the College of Letters and Science. Twenty faculty members in a diversity
of departments -- including history, music and political science -- serve
on the advisory committee.
In 2000, a Center for
Middle East Studies was established to administer a federally-funded
National Resource Center grant secured by MES faculty for instructional,
programmatic and research support. Many of the Programmatic aspects of
MES are currently supported by this Center.
The Middle East Studies Major is an interdisciplinary major leading to
the Bachelor of Arts degree in which students explore the myriad peoples,
societies, languages, and cultures of the Near East and the Islamic worlds.
The program brings together two overlapping but quite distinct areas of
study: first, the Near East in the Ancient, Islamic, and modern periods;
second, the religious and cultural traditions of Islam, both within its
original Near Eastern homeland, and in other regions of the world where
Islamic traditions have come to play a major role -- South and Southeast
Asia, Africa, and, (more recently) Europe and North America.
As a key part of their studies Middle East Studies strongly recommends,
though does not require, that students spend a substantial period of time
abroad in the UC Education
Abroad Program centers in Jerusalem or Cairo, or in other suitable
programs. Members of the Advisory Committee will
work actively with interested students to help them identify appropriate
opportunities for study abroad.
The program does not offer the M.A. or Ph.D. However, it can help graduate
students to coordinate interdisciplinary study across departmental lines,
and it also provides an enrichment of UCSB's own resources through the
lectures, colloquia, and seminars which it sponsors. Likewise, Middle East
Studies can offer limited financial assistance, on a competitive basis,
to qualified graduate students. Finally, the program also collaborates
with the Von Grunebaum
Center for Near Eastern Studies at UC Los Angeles in areas of common
concern.
FLAS Fellowships for graduate study
in Arabic!
Middle East Studies Major Links
For more information about this program, contact:
Nancy Gallagher
Chair, Middle East Studies Program
Professor of History
Department of History
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Tel 805 893 3467 Fax 805 499-0857
NEW EMAIL: gallagher@history.ucsb.edu
Jodi Cutler
Undergraduate Advisor
Global & International Studies
Tel: (805) 893-7860
Email: cutler@global.ucsb.edu