A week-long summer professional development workshop for instructors from a multistate consortium of two-year colleges.

The Extras is the fourth and finest feature from the inaugurator of Syrian auteur cinema, Nabil Maleh. A multiple festival award winner, The Extras is the engaging story of a poor young couple's courtship. For eight months, Salem, an aspiring actor/gas station attendant has been courting Nada, a young widow - yet they can only see each other in public under the watchful eyes of her overly protective brothers. (Nabil al- Maleh, 1993)

Set in 12th century Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, famed philosopher Averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph. The caliph’s political rivals, centered around the leader of a fanatical Islamic sect, force the caliph to send Averroes into exile, but his ideas keep on living thanks to his students. (Youssef Chahine, 1997)

Six Lebanese woman, of different religions and ages, all seek love, duty, friendship and possibility. Some work together in a beauty salon in Beirut but each one of their lives intersects. A comedy about everyday women facing everyday problems. (Nadine Labaki, 2007)

Six Lebanese women, of different religions and ages, all seek love, duty, friendship and possibility. Some work together in a beauty salon in Beirut but each one of their lives intersects. A comedy about everyday women facing everyday problems. (Nadine Labaki, 2007)

The first in a year-long Arab film series. Like the novel ostensibly set in 1990 at about the time of the first Gulf War, the film is a scathing portrayal of modern Egyptian society since the coup d'état of 1952. The setting is downtown Cairo, with the titular apartment building (which actually exists) serving as both a metaphor for contemporary Egypt and a unifying location in which most of the primary characters either live or work and in which much of the action takes place.

Despite the overthrow of corrupt governments in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Yemen, the future of the Arab world remains unclear. With the Middle East being a high U.S. foreign policy priority, many speculate on the U.S. reaction to the sweeping changes in the region's political landscape. What do these developments mean for U.S. foreign policy? Join the Council and the American Middle East Institute for a discussion on the current state of U.S. policy vis-a-vis the Arab Awakening.

Adam Shear will lead an informal seminar on chapter one of Ann Blair's Too Much to Know: "Information Management in Comparative Perspective," as a lead-up to the author's visit in October.

This small colloquium will explore late medieval projects of crusades that advocated an expansion of Europe and European values into the Near East. Utopian visions as well as hard-headed economic and military considerations are the hallmark of the treatises proposing these proto-colonial plans.