The Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies (CMENAS) is dedicated to promoting a broader and deeper understanding of the region–its histories, cultures, languages, and peoples–through research, education, and outreach programs. CMENAS is committed to creating a supportive environment where scholars, educators, students, and the community have the opportunity to engage in dialogue and to study current and historical events related to the Middle East and Northern Africa.
CMENAS gifts help support internships, student group activities, faculty and student travel, workshops and lectures, visiting scholars, artists, performers, and special courses related to the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Your Gifts at Work
By donating to CMENAS, your gifts have gone towards programming and research for dual degree students like Shireen Smalley, who graduated in 2018.
“I really enjoyed my final year at the University of Michigan, when I took a course on Autobiography in Modern Arabic Literature taught by Professor Anton Shammas. I then wrote my master’s thesis on the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and Forough Farrokhzad, with the guidance of Professor Shammas and Professor Cameron Cross. This experience nourished my natural curiosity and my love for poetry and artistic expression, two traits that have had an enormous positive influence on my professional development and on my personal life.
I also loved Professor Kathryn Babayan’s courses on Iranian religion and society, courses which were especially fulfilling to me as an Iranian-American student. Lastly, while I was a Middle East studies student I had the opportunity to work for Evyn Kropf transliterating the bibliographic information of Persian and Arabic lithographs for the collection at Hatcher Graduate Library, which was just plain fun!
The most valuable element of my Middle East studies degree as a student was the ability to explore many different disciplines and to concurrently pursue a Master of Public Policy, marrying my two academic interests.”
For more information on the various ways you can support CMENAS, please contact our center at (734) 647-4143 or cmenas@umich.edu.
CMENAS Support Fund (Endowment)
This endowment fund is to help support the mission of the Center by continuing to provide programming, research, and outreach to foster understanding of the Middle East region for the general public, students, and university community and help support the daily operation and staffing of the Center. [DONATE]
Lois A. Aroian Middle Eastern and North African Studies Scholarship Fund
Scholarship fund for undergraduate and graduate student scholarships. [DONATE]
Mahfoud Bennoune Memorial Thesis Award
In memory of Professor Mahfoud Bennoune (1936-2004), this prize is awarded to a CMENAS student in recognition of an outstanding M.A. thesis that focuses on North Africa and emphasizes values that Dr. Bennoune fought for: tolerance, secularism, human rights and women’s rights. [DONATE]
Richard P. Mitchell Memorial Prize
The Richard P. Mitchell Memorial Prize was initiated in 1986 to honor the late Professor Mitchell, who taught Middle Eastern and North African studies at the University of Michigan from 1956 to 1983. The prize has been awarded annually since 1987 and is offered to an incoming or continuing graduate student in the Center's Modern Middle Eastern and North African Studies MA program. [DONATE]
