Important Announcement Concerning 2020-2021 Admissions Applications
The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania regrets to announce that the Department will not accept applications for the PhD program during the 2020-21 admissions cycle. The School of Arts of Sciences, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, has made the difficult decision to focus resources on supporting current students and to ensure that future cohorts of PhD students will be fully supported. Therefore, the Department will pause bringing new students into the program for one year, with the expectation of welcoming a new cohort of graduate students in the fall of 2022. MA applications continue to be welcomed during this pause.
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The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) engages in the interdisciplinary humanistic study and teaching of the cultures of the Near East (often called the Middle East) as they express themselves in languages and texts, including both written and oral sources, as well as art, architecture, archaeology and material culture.
News
Fatemeh Shams receives Humboldt Foundation Fellowship
Assistant Professor of Persian literature, Fatemeh Shams has been awarded a 14-months long fellowship by the
Remembering Dr. Tajmah Assefi-Shirazi
It is with the deepest sadness we announce the passing of Dr. Tajmah Assefi-Shirazi on July 5 after a brief illness. Tajmah taught Farsi through the Penn Language Center from 1992 up until her death.
PhD candidate, Mina Khalil, has been named a 2020 School of Arts & Sciences Dean's Scholar
Mina was nominated by the department for his outstanding work in the field of Middle Eastern Literatures & Societies.
Congratulations, Mina!
NELC Professor, Dr. Richard Zettler, awarded $2 million State Department Grant
The preservation of important sites and artifacts critical to the heritage and history of Iraq – and indeed, the world – is a passion of Dr. Richard Zettler. The US Department of State agreed, awarding him and PENN alum Dr.
New Home for the Sphinx
Work continues on the Egyptian Gallery, but the Sphinx is in his permanent home. The new Sphinx Gallery, created by removing and covering the 1915 stairs to the Harrison Auditorium, will also house objects from each curatorial section, regularly rotated displays of a single highlighted object in an elegant small circular space, and a comfortable visitor seating and orientation area, as well as a new passenger elevator.
Relocated SphinxEvents
Arabic Conversation Hour
Muhammed Zakaria
Books
A History of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East
This book examines relations between Muslims, Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Middle East before World War I.
