Dear MES Alumni and Friends:

The Middle East Studies Program achieved several major milestones this year, including a revised curriculum for both the BA and MA programs. By incorporating more substance-based language courses into the degree program and fully integrating new offerings in the humanities from GW’s growing number of Middle East faculty, students have additional opportunities to incorporate cultural and linguistic instruction into their academic plan. The MA program continues to attract highly qualified applicants from colleges and universities across the globe. Our cohorts are also diverse — recent classes include first generation college students, international students from Europe and the Middle East, and active duty Foreign Area Officers. We welcomed 16 new MA students this academic year, and as our numbers continue to grow, we are able to expand our alumni engagement and mentoring programs, including our successful September MESP alumni networking event and a new student-initiated BA/MA mentoring program, which we hope to see grow this year. Our recent grads also continue to get exciting positions in public and private organizations, including the National Democratic Institute, Crisis Action, FHI 360, the Department of State, USAID, and elsewhere.