History and Mission

The principal mission of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at the University of California at Berkeley is to enhance awareness of the Middle East and of its diverse peoples and cultures. The center promotes both specialized knowledge and public understanding of this crucial area of the world, which includes the Arab states, Turkey, Iran, and Israel.

For many years the U.S. Department of Education has recognized UC Berkeley as one of the most significant universities in the United States in terms of Middle East area offerings. Drawing on all the resources of the Berkeley campus, CMES has become the most important sources of information about the Middle East and the Islamic World in the Western United States.

Throughout its nearly 35 years, CMES has enriched Berkeley's Middle East-related offerings and helped coordinate them into an integrated whole. Middle East Studies has been taught at UC Berkeley for more than 100 years. But the establishment of CMES as a federally funded National Resource Center (NRC) in 1965 greatly increased its importance as an area of study, and in 1979 CMES was reorganized as a fully independent interdisciplinary and interdepartmental unit. Finally in 1989, the UC Regents recognized CMES as an Organized Research Unit, and placed it within the then newly created Deanship of International and Area Studies.

The center aims to reach the broadest possible constituency, working with a variety of organizations and individuals to discover new avenues for scholarly outreach and cooperation. As the lone Middle East center in Northern California, CMES also establishes and reinforces links to other colleges and universities in the region with more modest Middle East programs.

Personnel affiliated with the center now include 15 highly specialized faculty, more than 35 partially specialized academics, and 150 graduate students. More than 100 courses relating to the Middle East are now offered on a regular basis on the Berkeley campus in two dozen departments and professional schools.

The commitment of CMES to reach a wide variety of Californians — pre- and post-secondary educators and students, independent scholars, the media, business, and the general public — is evident in the center’s many activities. These include the following:

Actively supporting the teaching and research of UC Berkeley's Middle East specialist faculty, graduate students, and scholars through research and travel grants.

Increasing the availability of Middle East-related courses by helping bring visiting faculty to academic departments and professional schools without resident Middle East specialists.

Organizing and sponsoring lecture series, colloquia, film series, seminars, museum exhibits, and major research conferences.

Enhancing Middle East language teaching and learning at UC Berkeley through direct and indirect support of both teachers and students.

Promoting interdisciplinary and collaborative work through joint sponsorship with other research units of intellectual programs and visiting scholars.

Collaborating with UC Berkeley's outreach office and other educational organizations to serve elementary, secondary, and post-secondary teachers and students.

Supporting Middle East-related community and cultural activities and programs.

Initiating programs to further the development of Middle East Studies at UC Berkeley and within the community at large.