About the Department of Near Eastern Studies

Students wishing to pursue Turkish Studies, including Turkish language, culture, society, history, and gender have many opportunities in Near Eastern Studies (NES) at the University of Arizona. Degrees offered include a BA with a major or minor NES, as well as Master's of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Near Eastern Studies. NES and affiliated faculty take an interdisciplinary approach to Turkish studies. In the past two years NES has created a separate prefix, TURK, for Turkish language courses. Beginning Turkish I and II (TURK 101, 102); Intermediate Turkish I and II (TURK 401, 402); and Advanced Turkish I and II (TURK 403/503 and 404/504) are offered every year.

Teach Turkey : Multiculturalism in the Middle East K-12 Project

UA Center for Middle Eastern Studies

The University of Arizona 's Center for Middle Eastern Studies received a Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad grant to take a group of K-12 educators to Turkey for a month in June, 2005, for a curriculum-building travel project. The participants in the program were chosen from a pool of applicants mostly from Arizona schools, though some were from further afield. The participants attended a three-part workshop prior to traveling to Turkey to ground them in the history and culture of the country. They were lead on the in-country part of the program by three individuals who served as guides and resources: Dr. Elif Shafak, novelist, Dr. Nalan Babur, faculty of Bögaziçi University's department of Primary Education, and Jim Bowman, Ph.D. candidate in Rhetoric and Composition at the UA. The group visited western and central Turkey, meeting with education, media and university figures who provided a series of lectures, presentations and walking tours to educate the participants on a variety of aspects of Turkish society. The grant also provided funds for the teachers to purchase cultural artifacts to take back to their schools. Upon return to the US, the teachers created curriculum materials (lesson plans and other curriculum units) to share with the wider national teaching community.

This was the fifth in a series of Fulbright-Hays/Center for Middle Eastern Studies curriculum-building trips to the Middle East. Others went to Syria, Turkey, Morocco and Cyprus between 2000 and 2004.

For more information on the “Teach Country” program, please contact Lisa Adeli, CMES Outreach Coordinator (mideast@email.arizona.edu).