Mission

A commitment to bring resources to the broad community

The mission of the Indiana University Center for the Study of the Middle East (CSME) is to promote multi- and interdisciplinary knowledge of the Middle East by providing enrichment to academic programs, scholarship, public outreach, and support for educators and students at all levels.

CSME is a Title VI Comprehensive National Resource Center. This is a particularly prestigious designation, conferred by the U.S. Department of Education, and shared by CSME and only 14 other Middle East centers at universities across the United States.

With other partners and professional schools across the Bloomington Campus, CSME enhances scholarly understanding of the Middle East, sponsoring and supporting both degree and non-degree programs.

We facilitate close academic collaboration between our flagship departments, the Borns Jewish Studies Program, Central Eurasian Studies, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, and the professional schools that are also constituents of our Center.

Teacher training at CSME takes place in cooperation with existing Indiana University National Resource Centers (NRCs) funded by the Department of Education under Title VI grants. We also work with the School of Education, and through outreach programs to teachers in K-16 programs in the State of Indiana.

A solid grounding in language training

Understanding of the Middle East cannot occur without a solid grounding in the modern languages of the region. To this end, CSME supports the study of modern Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, and Persian. Using NRC funds, we have also developed the country’s first communicative curriculum in Kurdish, through our partner institution, IU’s Summer Language Workshop.