Awards

For more information, contact Director of Undergraduate Studies Ramzi Rouighi (rouighi@usc.edu).

See below.

The El Beih Paper Prize was established by USC alumnus Mohamed El Beih to recognize the best undergraduate student paper in Middle East Studies. Submissions for the 2024 prize will be accepted between September 1 and October 24, 2025.

The awardee will be announced at the department’s holiday party at the end of the fall semester. For more information, contact Professor Ramzi Rouighi (rouighi@usc.edu).

No recipient granted in 2024

2023 Recipient – Stella Horns

2022 Recipient – John Klopotowski

2021 Recipient – Coco Zhang

2020 Recipient – Zachary Hrenko

2020 Honorable Mention – Sofia Cortes

2019 Recipient – Emily Wulf

2018 Recipient – Paxton Lambright

2018 Honorable Mention – Ciara Taylor

The Department of Middle East Studies recognizes students who have demonstrated academic excellence in the study of the Arabic language. Nominations are made by Arabic language faculty to the MDES Awards Committee.

The awardees will be announced at a departmental ceremony in May 2025. For more information, contact Professor Ramzi Rouighi.

2025 Awardees – Giovanny Riad and Sudeepta Murthy

2024 Awardees – Skyler Korkowski and Anne Chen

2021 Awardees – Hana Ayoub, Domenic Camicia, and John Klopotowski

2020 Awardees – Hannah Kang and Jamie Schlegel

2019 Awardees – Paxton Lambright and Rawan Masri

2018 Awardees – Monica Leung and Nickolas Wrobleski

The Department of Middle East Studies recognizes students who have demonstrated academic excellence in the study of the Persian language. Nominations are made by Persian language faculty to the MDES Awards Committee.

The awardees will be announced at a departmental ceremony in May 2025. This award is partly funded by a generous contribution by the Gramian-Emrani Foundation. For more information, contact Professor Ramzi Rouighi.

2025 Awardess – Wendy Wang and Ilia Morshed

2024 Awardees – Cyrus Shirangi and Romina Nazari

2021 Awardees – Danial Hashemi and Melody Jebraili

2020 Awardees – Bijan Hosseini and Kaveh Mahdavi

2019 Awardees – Nastaran Far and Keon Ghodrati

2018 Awardees – Campbell Mattix and Bardia Soltani

This certificate attests to students’ linguistic competency in at least two foreign languages. To qualify, students must meet foreign langauge requirement in two or more foreign languages and at least two courses counting toward the certificate must be taken at USC with a grade of B or better. For more information, go to https://dornsife.usc.edu/center-for-languages-and-cultures/clc-certificate.

The Academic Achievement Award (AAA) provides a tuition benefit to students who are pursuing multiple undergraduate degree objectives, have at least sophomore standing, and have earned a cumulative USC GPA of at least 3.750. AAA allows Fall or Spring registration of up to 21 units at the standard full-time tuition rate.

The purpose of the award is to allow highly motivated students with excellent academic records to complete multiple undergraduate degree objectives without adding to their time-to-degree. For more information, go to https://ahf.usc.edu/awards/aaa/.

The annual USC Libraries Research Award recognizes excellence and creativity in the use of USC Libraries’ research collections and services. Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit papers or projects they have completed at USC in a for-credit class or through independent study during the spring, summer, or fall semesters of the current academic year. In addition to their papers, a Reflective Essay of 500-1000 words is required. For more information, go to http://libguides.usc.edu/researchaward.