Pick a Destination
Undergraduate Lunch Series
Open to Cornell undergraduate students. Lunch provided.
Bring a friend; come and go as your class schedule allows.
- September 26, 2019, Seema Golestaneh, "Islam and the Ethics of Cloning: Shi'is say what? Sunnis say what?"
- October 24, 2019, Makda Weatherspoon, "Prison Break: What it's Really Like to Teach Arabic Behind Bars"
- November 21, 2019, Ross Brann, "Trump's Middle East"
Why major in Near Eastern Studies?
The Near/Middle East is a region that has had an important impact on the development of human history and plays a vital role in today's world community. Encompassing the Near East from ancient times to the modern period, the department's course offerings encourage students to take an interdisciplinary approach to the cultures of this region and emphasize methods of historical and literary analysis. The Department of Near Eastern Studies offers language instruction in the four main modern languages of the Near East/Middle East, as well as ancient and other less commonly taught languages. If you need to take a language placement exam in one of the modern languages, please contact the appropriate instructor. We've got incredible and enthusiastic faculty who are dedicated to their students, and passionate about their field of research. We offer a major and minor in near eastern studies, and a minor in Arabic. Find out more on the Undergraduate Study page.