Mon. Nov. 18, the Middle East Center at the Kellogg Research Building (KRB) opened their doors to the FSU community over sweets and mint tea. Students and faculty gathered in lively conversations to discuss Middle Eastern appreciation and culture. The open house also gave students a chance to learn about the Arabic Program at FSU and the only full B.A. degree in Middle Eastern Studies offered in Florida.

Ms. Madelyn Johnson (International Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies) has been awarded the Boren Scholarship to study Arabic this coming spring and summer in Amman, Jordan. Boren is a prestigious and competitive scholarship which funds study abroad by U.S. undergraduate students in world regions critical to U.S. interests. 

Mabrook (congrats), Maddy! 

Florida State University senior Courtney Reed was in Amman, Jordan, for two months last summer interning with a nongovernmental organization when she unexpectedly ran into FSU alumnus Adam Coogle, who was working just a floor above her office. Click here to read more. 

The Middle East Center and the  Askew Student Life Cinema (ASLC) are teaming up for the 11th year to recognize, present, and discuss a variety of films from across the Middle East. Palestine, Israel, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, and Lebanon are all represented in this year’s lineup, with titles extending until November 4th. All films are free to the general public, and several are showing for the very first time in Tallahassee. Don’t miss your opportunity to see these excellent films on the big screen!

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10^th Anniversary Middle East Film Festival

The Middle East Center and the ASLC are teaming up for the 10^th year to recognize, present, and discuss a variety of films from across the Middle East. Lebanon, Egypt, Kurdistan, Israel, Iran, Lebanon and Syria are all represented in this year’s lineup, with titles extending until November 13^th. All films are free to the general public, and several are showing for the very first time in Tallahassee. Don’t miss your opportunity to see these excellent films on the big screen!

MES student Sabrina Abboud is a recipient of the Presidential Scholar award. The Presidential Scholars award is the premier undergraduate merit scholarship at Florida State University. The program provides four years of support and is open to high school seniors who are admitted into the Florida State University Honors Program. Presidential Scholars Program invests in undergraduate students with extraordinary potential to be the transformational leaders of their generation.

Jesse Marks, 24, Jacksonville, Fla.
Marks, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Middle East studies in August 2016 and is currently the Herbert Scoville Jr. Fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C., will spend the year in Jordan studying the management of the eventual return and reintegration of Syrian refugees in Jordan to a postconflict Syria.

Kelly Baker, a senior majoring in international affairs and middle eastern studies from Greensboro, N.C., will travel to Jordan to study Arabic starting this fall. It will be a return visit. Baker studied in Amman during the summer of 2016, and the experience put her on a path toward fulfilling a key goal she’d harbored for years.

The Middle East Center and The Student Life Cinema at Florida State University are pleased to announce that they are bringing you the Middle East Film Festival! The festival brings a wide range of award-winning movies spanning across different parts of the Middle East in order to celebrate the region’s cultures, diversity, and strengths. 

A reception will take place on the opening night with free food, live music, and dance performances from different local groups and student organizations.