"Arabic didn't need September 11 to be relevant"
Benjamin Foster (2003)

The Arabic language is the key to understanding a group of 22 nations and over 200 million native speakers of Arabic, as well as over a billion Muslims who use Arabic as their language of religious duties and rituals. Arabic is also spoken by many of the three million people of Arab origin living in the United States and Canada.

Some of the major goals of the KU Arabic Studies program have been to produce highly proficient non-native speakers of Arabic through its intensive proficiency-based teaching of Arabic language, to raise American students' consciousness of the Arab and Muslim world and to create a more profound understanding and teaching of Arab culture at the undergraduate level.

The Department of African and African-American Studies regularly offers Arabic on the first-, second- and third-year levels. It also offers two regular courses on Arab culture. Arabic language learning is enhanced by several organized outings to Arab restaurants as well as in-class samplings of Arab food and exposure to music, poetry and online Arab media. These activites give students a literal and figurative "taste" of Arab culture.

A successful study abroad program, established in 2002, is available to students of Arabic for a four- or eight-week summer session.

A few of the many career opportunities for students of Arabic include positions in journalism, international finance, industry, contractual and corporate law, academia and cultural exchange.

This web site was originally developed at the Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Center of the University of Kansas with support from a U. S. Department of Education Title VI grant for "Enhancing Less Commonly Taught Languages and Cultures" (Award #P016A990036). All rights reserved. No portion of these pages may be copied or reproduced without the expressed written permission of the Academic Resource Center. All comments and questions concerning this page should be directed to the WEBMASTER. This page created by Naima Omar with the assistance of Rebekah Heacock. Copyright 2003-2005.