This year's annual Middle East Studies Night held Monday was a night of sharing life changing experiences, giving awards and enjoying Middle Eastern cuisine.
The highlight of the evening was the announcement of 2008 grant recipients. "The grants are an open competition. The recipients had to present a project that answers a question or provides insight about the cultures of the Middle East," said Gloria J. Gibson, Chair of committee and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences.
"This program is about opportunities. It gives students a chance to learn and experience things that they might not ever do otherwise," said Gilbert Fowler, Associate Dean of the Honors College and Middle Eastern Studies Committee member, who took a group to Kuwait last year to do a Media Tour and look for similarities and differences between America and Kuwait.
According to Stephanie Fischer, a member of the Kuwait team last year and a graduate student in Mass Communications, her trip to Kuwait was a great experience. "Any students who have the chance shouldn't be scared or nervous to go over there," Fischer said. She added that she learned that the people of Kuwait aren't all that different from Americans.
Radio/tv major Sara Gay had similar experiences from her trip to Kuwait. According to her, there are a lot of similarities to our news system, and some of Kuwait's communication technology is sometimes better than news agencies in the U.S.
A grant titled "A Study of Street Youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Qualitative Analysis" was given to a team of four associate and assistant professors, George Jacinto, Beverly Edwards, Robert Franklin and Patricia Guy-Walls. The group is going to Ethiopia in order to interview street children, do research on their issues and concerns and produce a documentary. Their research will serve both as an academic and research piece.
Another grant went to art professor John Salvest, who will be studying Mosaics in Turkey. Salvest received a Middle East Studies Travel Grant in 2003 to go to Tunisia.
The only student to get a grant this year was Grey Avant, an international business student, who is going to Morocco to study Arabic. Avant has studied Arabic at ASU and is going to further his studies abroad.
The MESC was founded in 1994 and is dedicated to preserving balance between cultural exchange, research and development and giving an opportunity to experience Middle East both academically and culturally.
Gibson feels this program is a great opportunity for ASU-J. "We encourage our faculty and students to apply for the grants because they are very beneficial to researchers and to those who are interested in the Middle East."