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The Middle East Studies Center (MESC) at Portland State University is committed to providing information and to promoting understanding of the people, cultures, languages, and religions of the Middle East in an open and objective atmosphere. As the only institution of higher education in Oregon with a degree-based Middle East program, PSU offers courses in Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, and Persian, and many other disciplines. PSU has a distinguished faculty with Middle East expertise and a vast PSU Middle East library collection. MESC serves as an information center providing support to Northwest faculty and students on other campuses, businesses, pre-collegiate educators, and the media. MESC provides an institutional bridge between the PSU campus and greater community with its year-round outreach activities including academic conferences, workshops for teachers, cultural events, expert speakers, and access to a vast community lending library of printed, cultural, and audiovisual resources.

The Middle East Studies Center at Portland State University (PSU) dates back to 1959 when it became the first federally supported undergraduate program in the U.S. for Arabic language and Middle East area studies. Over 21,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students have taken PSU courses in Middle East Studies and hundreds of students have received degrees with a Middle East concentration. Another aspect of PSU's Middle East identity relates to the thousands of students from the region who have studied at PSU. Alumni, current students, and visiting scholars from the Middle East all are important parts of the PSU campus and greater community connections.