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Community Partnership Enhances MEST Study-Abroad Potential

The Middle East Studies (MEST) Interdisciplinary Program in the College of Arts and Sciences offers UT students unique study abroad experiences, now with expanded scholarship opportunities thanks to a generous partnership with the Arab American Club of Knoxville (AACK).

Matt Buehler, associate professor in political science and the chair of UT’s Middle East Studies program, collaborated with AACK to organize the Middle East Gala in August 2023. They succeeded in raising the club’s Middle Eastern Cultural Engagement Endowment from $25,000 to more than $120,000.

“We established the endowment in 2018 to fund student travel scholarships to Arab countries,” said AACK Board Member Susan Dakak. “Our goal is to expose youth to the real and true Arab culture and traditions. There’s no better way to do that than sending UT students to Arab countries so they can experience, first-hand, the generosity of our people and the richness of our cultural heritage.”

The original endowment was able to cover a percentage of airfare for MEST students studying. With the increase, the program is now able to annually offer two AACK Student Travel Scholarships of approximately $2,000.

“We're hoping that at least that pays for a student's entire plane ticket and some extra spending money when they're studying abroad,” said Buehler. “Our long-term goal is to be able to offer four scholarships at $2,000 each.”

The 2024 MEST Scholarship Competition deadline is February 19 for either the AACK Travel Scholarship or the Elaine A. Evans Middle East Studies Scholarship. The Evans scholarship offers $500–$1,000 for eligible applicants.

Another MEST goal is to develop a faculty-led, UT-coordinated study-abroad approach for the program. This would save on the costs of third-party travel services, making the travel more financially feasible for students.

“One of the main challenges that the program faces right now is that we don't have that many UT-directed study-abroad opportunities in Arabic speaking countries,” said Buehler. “We’re looking into options for different types of UT-directed programs now for the future.”

As the MEST program develops new opportunities, one of its ongoing strengths is the interdisciplinary benefit that it offers for majors across social science and humanities areas. A MEST minor adds value for multiple degree areas, notably history or political science.

“There is usually an international-relations, global politics element,” said Buehler. “Then you have Arabic culture and usually a component of Arabic language study. It's a way to give them specificity to their degree. Arabic acquisition is the biggest way that students can benefit from it—to get the intensive language training. Seeing the country, having an international experience, is positive, too, especially if the students don't have a lot of experience studying and traveling abroad.”

Vol senior Ashley Campagne gained exactly these benefits while studying abroad in Morocco. The MEST scholarship helped make the trip possible for her.

“As a language world business major, studying abroad is imperative,” she said. “My studies strongly emphasize immersion and developing intercultural communication skills. I chose Morocco because of my familial background. I wanted to reconnect with my roots and experience the nuances of everyday life in Morocco firsthand. I am extremely grateful for the scholarship’s existence.”

The Volunteer community can make contributions to the AACK’s scholarship endowment via giving.utk.edu/middleeastern.