Gaby Semaan, Advisor

Middle East Studies offers a bachelor of arts degree or a minor. Its offerings are designed to provide students an appropriate exposure to the history, religions, cultures, and socioeconomic systems of the Middle East, and in turn, that region’s relations with the rest of the world, as well as to create balanced perceptions of the various factors and phenomena in the Middle East in historical and contemporary contexts.

The Middle East Studies program requires a total of 31 semester hours in the major including 16 hours of required courses and 15 of electives chosen in consultation with MES adviser.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Required courses 16 hours:
MES 2400	Introduction to the Contemporary Cultures of the Middle East through Movies and Arts	3
MES 3200	The Contemporary Middle East a Historical and Modern In-Depth Overview	3
MES 3800	The Governments and Legal Systems of the Contemporary Middle East	3
MES 4200	Current Issues in the Middle East	3
FLAN 3440	Intercultural Communication: Principles And Practice	4
Electives:		15
Chosen with Advisor Approval from the following:
ARBC 1110	Elementary Arabic I
ARBC 1120	Elementary Arabic II
ARBC 2140	Intermediate Arabic I
ARBC 2150	Intermediate Arabic II
ARBC 3010	Conversation and Composition I
FREN 1080	Culture And Commerce In The French-Speaking World
FREN 1090	French & Francophone Culture In The Modern World
FREN 1110	Elementary French I
FREN 1120	Elementary French II
FREN 1500
FREN 2140	Intermediate French I
FREN 2150	Intermediate French II
GEPL 4810	Political Geography
GERM 1080	German Culture And Commerce
GERM 1090	Introduction To Modern German Culture
GERM 1110	Elementary German I
GERM 1120	Elementary German II
GERM 2140	Intermediate German I
GERM 2150	Intermediate German II
SPAN 1010
SPAN 1080	Culture & Commerce In The Spanish-Speaking World
SPAN 1090	Culture Of Latin America
SPAN 1100	Culture Of Spain
SPAN 1110	Elementary Spanish I
SPAN 1120	Elementary Spanish II
SPAN 2140	Intermediate Spanish I
SPAN 2150	Intermediate Spanish II
HIST 3550	History Of The Middle East Since 1500
PHIL 3500	Eastern Thought
PHIL 3570	Philosophy Of Religion
REL 2310	Old Testament/Tanakh
REL 2500	Islam
REL 3350	The Qur'an And Hadith
REL 3980	Special Topics In Religious Studies
Total Hours		31

¹

Students should take HIST 1120 toward the college’s distributive Humanities requirement.

Plan of Study Grid

First Term		Hours
ENGL 1110	College Composition I	3
AR 1000	First Year Orientation	1
MATH 1180	Reasoning With Mathematics	3
Elementary Language I		4
HIST 1120	Middle East Civilization	3
UT Core Social Science		3
	Hours	17
Second Term
ENGL 1130	College Composition II: Academic Disciplines And Discourse	3
Elementary Language II		4
ARBC 1090	Culture of the Arabic-Speaking World	3
Natural Sciences Core		3
Social Sciences Core		3
	Hours	16
Third Term
Intermediate Language I		3
ENGL 2710-ENGL 2800	UT Core Humanities - Literature	3
MES 2400	Introduction to the Contemporary Cultures of the Middle East through Movies and Arts	3
UT Core Natural Science		3
UT Core Natural Science Lab		1
ARBC 1080	Culture and Commerce in the Arabic-Speaking World	3
	Hours	16
Fourth Term
Intermediate Language II		3
GEPL 4810	Political Geography	3
MES 3200	The Contemporary Middle East a Historical and Modern In-Depth Overview	3
Related or minor courses		6
	Hours	15
Fifth Term
FLAN 3440	Intercultural Communication: Principles And Practice	4
WGST 2010	Introduction To Gender Studies: Gender, Sex And Difference	3
MES 3800	The Governments and Legal Systems of the Contemporary Middle East	3
Related or minor courses		3
Major elective		3
	Hours	16
Sixth Term
MES 4200	Current Issues in the Middle East (US Multicultural Diversity)	3
Related or minor courses		6
Electives		6
	Hours	15
Seventh Term
ARBC 4850		3
Related or minor course		3
Electives		6
	Hours	12
Eighth Term
FLAN 4980	Special Topics in Foreign Languages	3
Electives		12
	Hours	15
	Total Hours	122

• PLO 1- List, distinguish and discuss what countries made up the traditional geography of the Middle East and the Greater Middle East.
• PLO 2- List and discuss the major religions of the Middle East.
• PLO 3- Explain the differences and similarities between the political systems of the Middle East.
• PLO 4- Describe how political, economic, social and cultural structures work within the region.
• PLO 5- Discuss some of the challenges facing Middle East as a region and as individual countries.
• PLO 6- Compare and contrast the cultures within the region.
• PLO 7. Language proficiency at entry or more advanced level in one of the languages of the region.
• PLO 8- Research, write, present and explain about the relationships within the countries of the region and the international community.