Middle East Studies

The first university department of its kind, the USC Dornsife Department of Middle East Studies teaches and pursues scholarship on the Middle East and Northern Africa with a central focus on sustainability and the environment. By studying the area’s socio-economic challenges in relation to the environment, experts offer new ways of thinking about urban growth, a dry climate, industrial output, energy, climate-caused migration, water scarcity, and more. Because of the department’s unique nature, students gain valuable knowledge on this increasingly important region as well as insight into environmental challenges that can be applied in other contexts around the world.