Outreach
The outreach mission of the Center for Near Eastern Studies is consistent with the federal directive calling on National Resource Centers to expand the scope of their programs locally, regionally and nationwide.
For more than two decades the Center has been providing Los Angeles County teachers with professional development opportunities through intensive summer workshops on the Middle East and Islam.
CNES also offers an annual seminar for K-12 teachers, led by UCLA faculty members, as part of the national Teachers As Scholars program initiated by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Dedicated to scholarly fulfillment and lifelong learning, TAS seminars address such topics as The "Clash of Civilizations": Islam and the West, and The End of Childhood: Middle East Perspectives.
Over the past decade, CNES has forged a collaborative relationship with Hamilton High School and its Global Studies Magnet. Center-affiliated graduate students frequently make classroom presentations at Hamilton, and conversely, Hamilton students often visit UCLA to meet with faculty and students and engage them in discussions related to their studies and career aspirations. This exchange is fortified by the many Hamilton teachers who have taken part in the Center's workshops and seminars.
On a regional basis, the Center collaborates with the state-sponsored California International Studies Project, a program designed to strengthen student performance through the preparation of exemplary teacher leaders.
CNES was a co-founder and is an active member of the Middle East Outreach Council, a national organization dedicated to increasing knowledge about the peoples, places and cultures of the Middle East in our nation's schools.
The Center was instrumental in the development of curriculum materials which are now being used to connect Los Angeles middle school students with their peers in Kabul, Afghanistan. Sponsored by the UCLA International Institute, Relief International and the National Geographic Society, the project aims to foster cross-cultural understanding, youth empowerment and global citizenship.
CNES has taken a leading role in developing Outreach World, a portal to resources for teaching international and area studies in K-12 schools, produced by some 200 university-based and federally-funded research centers nationwide.
