Dr. Zeina Schlenoff, who co-founded FSU's Middle East Studies program in 2002 with Peter Garretson, has been appointed director of the Middle East Center. Congratulations, Zeina!

On Friday, November 13, the Arabic Outreach Program at Florida State is hosting International Coffee Hour. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to enjoy refreshments, cultural performances, and conversation celebrating Arabic and Middle Eastern culture. The event will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Center for Global Engagement. Coffee, mint tea, and baklava will be served. Please join us! 

The Middle East Center is happy to welcome Professor Reema Barakat to Florida State! Reema, who grew up in Syria, earned her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and spent time teaching English to students at universities and schools in Syria. She received a Fulbright Grant to study at the University of Texas at Austin, where she had three years of experience teaching Arabic as a foreign language. She earned her Masters degree in Middle Eastern Studies in spring 2015.

Allyson Gonzalez, a new post-doc in the Dept. of Religion who specializes in Spain, is offering a seminar course in the fall 2015 semester on Jews and Muslims living in Christian Spain. The seminar will be mixed grad/undergrad, and its course number is REL 4190-2. Sign up today!

The FSU Middle East program continues its record of success in national language study fellowships: congratulations to Jessie Marks, who won a Boren Scholarship, and Ed Neuse, who won a Critical Languages Scholarship. Ed will spend the summer in 'Amman, Jordan, and Jessie will spen

On Monday, April 20, at 4 p.m., Sinan Ciddi (Georgetown), director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, will lecture on "Erdogan's New Turkey: An Emerging Authoritarian Power." His abstract: "Turkey's political history during the multiparty period (1950-) is riddled with instability, praetorian and authoritarian rule.

The Modern Languages Lecture Series a lecture by Professor Carol Fadda-Conrey, Syracuse University: "Constructing Arab and Muslim Identities in the US: Beyond Sept. 11 and the Rhetoric of Violence." The lecture will take place on Monday, April 13, 2015 at 3:30 p.m. in DIF 009. Prof.

In honor of Professor Peter Garretson’s more than 30 years at FSU, the FSU Middle East Center will present a symposium, "New Directions in World History: Essays in Honor of Peter P. Garretson." Papers will discuss various aspects of world history and are presented by past students of Garretson. The final panel is a roundtable to discuss the future of the field of world history. Program

Many of you will already have seen "No Woman, No Drive," the viral video from 2011 Middle East graduate Hisham Fageeh that has been viewed 5 1/2 million times this week.