Thanks to the efforts of Professor Mootacem Mhiri, Senior Lecturer in Arabic, Vassar has been selected to host a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) in Arabic. Professor Mhiri will serve as the Academic Advisor of the FLTA. “As part of the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, the Fulbright FLTA Program is designed to develop Americans’ knowledge of foreign cultures and languages by supporting teaching assistantships in more than 35 languages at hundreds of U.S. institutions of higher education” (Fulbright Foreign Student Program).

The presence of an Arabic language FLTA will provide critical instructional support as well as cultural exposure to students—two elements that are essential to the comprehensive, successful teaching of any language, especially for less commonly taught languages such as Arabic. Currently, Vassar is hosting its fourteenth Arabic FLTA, an experience which to date has been enriching and rewarding.

The Arabic language curriculum is housed in the Africana Studies Multidisciplinary Program, which today offers the “Arabic Language and Culture” correlate sequence. The program enjoys robust registration at the introductory level, offers three full years of language study, two literature courses, and there is continuing demand to grow the program.