Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies Major, Modern Middle Eastern Studies Concentration

Program Requirements

  • Total units required: 24 advanced, in addition to prerequisites

Students who wish to major in Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies will select one of two concentrations: Comparative Jewish and Islamic Studies or Modern Middle Eastern Studies.

Required Courses

Prerequisites

  • 100- and 200-level language (Arabic or Hebrew), by course work or by placement exam. (A student who skips the first four semesters of Arabic courses by placement must successfully complete Arab 3075 Third-Level Arabic I. A student who skips the first four semesters of Hebrew courses by placement exam must successfully complete HBRW 320D Third-Level Modern Hebrew I or HBRW 384 Intro to Biblical Hebrew. Students who complete the third-level language course with a grade of B- or better will receive 6 units of back credit.)
  • JIMES 210C Introduction to Islamic Civilization and JIMES 208F Introduction to Jewish Civilization: History and Identity. (Students with substantial prior course work may substitute an additional upper-level course with permission of their advisor and the director of undergraduate studies.)

Requirements for the Modern Middle Eastern Studies Concentration

  • 15 credits in 300- and 400-level JIMES courses, distributed as the student wishes
  • 3 to 6 credits in 300- and 400-level courses that are pertinent to the modern Middle East that may be home-based outside of the department (i.e., home-based in Anthropology, History, International and Area Studies, Political Science, Religious Studies, and so on)
  • At least 3 credits in 300- and 400-level premodern Middle Eastern studies courses
  • 3 credits in the departmental capstone course to be taken during the senior year. (Students may take this course during their junior year with permission of their advisor and the director of undergraduate studies.)

Additional Information

Students enrolled in preapproved Washington University study abroad programs during the regular academic semester can earn a maximum of 9 credits subject to review by their advisor and the director of undergraduate studies. Summer programs and transfer courses can be granted as many as 6 credits subject to review by the student's advisor and the director of undergraduate studies. A limit of 9 credits in total can be applied to the major whether the credits are earned via study abroad, summer programs, or transfer credit. For more information about preapproved study abroad programs, please visit the Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies Study Abroad Programs website.

Students must maintain a B average in all courses for the major. A grade of B- or higher must be earned in each language course in order to advance to the next level.

No course taken Pass/Fail can count toward the prerequisites or the major.

A student may request credit for courses taken outside of the department (other than those courses that are cross-listed) by seeking the permission of the director of undergraduate studies and the department chair.

To be eligible to write a senior thesis, a student must maintain a grade point average of 3.65 through the sixth semester. Senior thesis writers should sign up for an appropriate 3-credit course during both the fall and spring semesters. (The 6 credits from these courses may be applied to the primary area of study.)

Visit the Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies page
for additional information about this program.

Contact Info

Phone:314-935-8567
Email:jimes@wustl.edu
Website:http://jimes.wustl.edu