The study of the region extending from
Morocco to Kazakhstan since the rise of Islam is coordinated,
encouraged, and stimulated at the University of Chicago by the
Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES). Established in 1965,
the CMES has been supported by the Divisions of Humanities and
Social Sciences at the University of Chicago and by grants from
the U.S. Department of Education and the Mellon Foundation for
more than thirty years.
The
educational aims of the Center is to assist students in acquiring
a sound grounding in an academic discipline or a professional
field and in the languages and civilizations of the Middle
East. The Center, an interdepartmental, interdisciplinary
unit, achieves
this objective by helping to plan degree programs for students
who intend to use their knowledge of the Middle East in careers
in university teaching and research; governmental and non-governmental
organizations; business; journalism; and other personal or
professional pursuits. Since CMES faculty members have their
primary teaching
appointments in the social sciences and humanities departments
or in the professional schools, the work of the Center is closely
linked with the programs of other degree-granting bodies of
the University. The Center also brings to the University
visiting
scholars whose work strengthens and complements that of the
regular faculty.
In addition,
the Center serves as a forum for the open, responsible, and informed
exchange of ideas among University of Chicago
students, faculty, staff, and members of the outside community
on all issues
relating to the areas of its interest. In these exchanges,
the Center recognizes the centrality of the principles of
freedom, civility, and conscience in the presentation of
ideas and opinions
in all forms of communication and in all programmatic activities.
