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Oklahoma City — The OU Board of Regents approved the creation of a new Middle Eastern studies major within the School of International and Area Studies at its special meeting Wednesday.

The new major will require students to study Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew or Turkish and study abroad in a Middle Eastern country in addition to taking classes in Norman on the history, culture, religion and politics of the region.

Currently, students in the School of International and Area Studies may minor but not major in Middle Eastern studies. Professor Josh Landis, an expert on Syria, said the creation of a Middle Eastern studies major has been nine years in the making.

"We wanted to see how students reacted to Middle Eastern studies and they came flocking," Landis said.

The school secured about $1.5 million in federal funding for the new program, but Landis said the university will have to fund the program independently within two or three years. In the meantime, administrators hope to hire another professor of Arabic language and literature.

At the regents' meeting, OU President David Boren said a new summer study abroad program for the Middle East will be established for travel and study in the summer of 2010. The Journey to the Middle East program will be based in Turkey.

"I don't need to explain why knowledge of the Middle East is very important to the country, to these students and to their future," Boren said.

— Ashley Body contributed reporting.