Expanded program will focus on language proficiency and translation

Cleveland State University has secured a federal grant that will enable expansion of the Arabic program, currently offered to students as a minor, to an undergraduate major program, and also offer a certificate program in Arabic translation.

The two-year, $180,000 grant is from the U.S. Department of Education’s Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language program (UISFL). The funds will enable CSU faculty to plan and develop an expanded curriculum for the major, which will include additional course offerings, evening and summer classes, and study abroad opportunities. An additional lecturer will be hired to teach Arabic language courses. The grant will also support strengthened outreach programs and library resources.

The grant was submitted by Dr. Abed el-Rahman Tayyara, Associate Professor of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies and Coordinator of the Arabic Program at CSU.

“We are seeing growing demand for professionals with fluency in Arabic, and students who graduate with an Arabic major from CSU will be fully prepared with the language and cultural fluency to succeed in global careers,” said Dr. Tayyara.

Students will be able to begin enrolling in the Arabic major program in Fall 2016.

Starting in 2008, CSU began offering a minor in Arabic, after receiving funding through the UISFL program. Arabic is the second-most popular language section in CSU’s Department of Modern Languages. The university also offers a minor in Middle Eastern Studies.