Center for Middle Eastern Studies

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at the University of Arizona (UA) is a Title VI National Resource Center supported by the U.S. Department of Education. CMES was created in 1975 with federal and University support and has grown to include 117...

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Meet our new Outreach Scholars! 

Would your class or community group like to have a guest speaker address issues related to the Middle East? When possible, CMES will arrange for a University of Arizona student (from a Middle Eastern country or an American expert in Middle Eastern Studies), UA faculty member, or a visiting scholar to give a guest lecture to K-12 and post-secondary classes or to community groups.

If you want to arrange a speaker for your class or group, email Lisa Adeli [email protected].

http://cmes.arizona.edu/outreach/speakers

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“Juggler” Felisa Hervey 2014

Bamiyan, Afghanistan 

“The Mobile Mini Circus for children performs at the Silk Road Cultural Festival, held yearly in Bamiyan province.”

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“Fast Food Seller” Betsey Coleman 2013

“A fast food seller works in Ramallah, West Bank (Palestine). “

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“Haircut” Tim Flanagan 2014

“A boy gets his hair cut in the souq in Ifrane, Morocco.”

In celebration of our upcoming photography competition, let’s look back on some of last years winners. 

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Educator Workshops

Each year, the Office organizes several short teacher development workshops for K-12 educators. Arizona teachers participate in sessions led by UA CMES affiliated faculty and other professionals. Topics are interdisciplinary and in the past have focused on a variety of subjects including Islamic mathematics and science, Islamic Spain and the Americas, the legacy of Saddam Hussein, contemporary Iranian culture, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the importance of water and oil to the region.

Spring 2015

"Crossing Borders: Refugees from the Middle East and Latin America" October 6 2015 CMES is working with the Center for Latin American Studies to present this workshop from 4:00 - 8:00 pm in Marshall 490. The workshop is only $12, with dinner included, and is worth 4PD credits for teachers. First come first serve; [email protected] to register.

http://cmes.arizona.edu/node/641

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Lesson Plan Competition 2015

Teachers of all grade levels (K-12) and content areas: You could win cash, prizes, and prestige by entering our lesson plan competition! 

The deadline to submit lesson plans for consideration in this year’s competition is August 31, 2015.

Teachers (and student teachers) are invited to submit one or more Middle East-related lesson plans they have created.

Winning lesson plans will be shared widely with educators through our outreach program.

The CMES 2015 Outstanding Lesson Plan Award will consist of a $200 cash prize for the winning teacher and a collection of resources for use in the teacher’s school.  Second place winner(s) will receive a cash prize of $100, and a selection of resources for use in the teacher’s school.

School officials of the authors of all lessons chosen for “publication” on our website or CDs will be notified of the teacher's accomplishment.  (Any lessons put on our website remain the property of the teacher who authored the lesson and can be included on other websites/materials as well.)  

Lesson plans may be in any content area or at any grade level.  They should be in a format ready to be used by other teachers who might not have a strong background in the subject presented and should include a concise outline of the academic K-12 standards addressed.  Resources necessary for the lesson plans should be noted, and if any readings or materials are needed to implement the lesson plan, they must be submitted along with the lesson plan.

You should include your name and school (email address optional) on the lesson plan.

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Funded travel-abroad opportunity for high school students (current freshmen-seniors): 

NSLI-Y offers scholars that provide FULLY FUNDED travel-abroad opportunities for accepted applicants who want to learn a critical language. The program is funded by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (so students have to be U.S. citizens to apply), so it puts them on the road to additional funding, scholarship, and JOB opportunities later in life. Here are the details:

NSLI-Y is for students interested in studying abroad and learning a critical (less-commonly-taught) language. Students can spend next summer OR the 2015-2016 school year learning Arabic in Jordan, Morocco, or Oman; Chinese in China; Hindi in India; Korean in South Korea; Persian in Tajikistan ( since they can't go to Iran or Afghanistan! - summer program only for this one); Russian in Russia, Moldova, or Estonia; or Turkish in Turkey. 

Students do NOT have to have studied the language beforehand - in fact, it is expected that they would not have any previous knowledge. (However, if the student is already bilingual in any language - e.g. Spanish - then that would be an asset in the application.) 

During the program, students stay with host families or sometimes a combination of group housing (dorms) and host families. 

High school seniors are eligible to apply a summer program only; high school freshmen, sophomores, and juniors may apply for a summer program or a school year program.  

To be eligible, students must be currently in high school, be a U.S. citizen, have at least a 2.5 GPA, and have a birth date between July 10, 1997 and June 30, 2001 for summer programs or between September 30, 1997 and June 30, 2001 for academic year programs.

For a whole lot more information and an application, go to: 

http://www.nsliforyouth.org/

 (Then, there are lots of links with all kinds of information.) The application deadline is October 29, but it takes a lot of time.

So students need to start thinking about and working on the application NOW.

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Have you traveled to the Middle East or North Africa this summer or in the past? If so, you might want to consider submitting photos for consideration for our 25th annual photography exhibit. This year’s theme will be very broad: “The Middle East in Photographs: A 25-Year Retrospective.” In other words, we want any awesome pictures taken between 1991 and the present! Since it is our 25th exhibit, we will use a big gallery in the Student Union and will have an extra special grand opening. So start sorting through your pictures.

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CMES has all kinds of lesson plans and materials  for K-12 teachers

- We have over 120 lesson plans at all grade levels. http://cmes.arizona.edu/outreach/lessons Click on the links to search by grade level, subject, or content area; then go down the list (alphabetical) to find the lessons. There is everything from an awesome 3rd-5th grade lesson on "Water in the Desert" (though that file is too big to fit totally online, so if you want it, email me your address and I'll send you a CD) to middle and high school lessons in English, History, Geography, Current Events, etc....

- There are plenty of handouts and background sheets and powerpoints at:http://cmes.arizona.edu/node/771 . For example, there are some powerpoints on the Jewish High Holy Days, info on the Persian New Year, and lots, lots more.

- Check out the other resources such as suggested book lists for K-12 classrooms (by grade level), film guides (for films available at our Center or through Netflix), links to websites to counter Islamophobia, and AP World History resources:http://cmes.arizona.edu/outreach/resources 

- We have a YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/sbscmes/videos

- Like our Facebook page (for K-12 and community college educators - including pre-service teachers): https://www.facebook.com/cmesoutreach