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The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations is now the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures! 

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Penn's COVID-19 information page.

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2022-2023 NELC Newsletter Volume 4

We wanted to let you know what we've been up to since our last issue.

Click here to view or download Volume 4! 

Check back for our next issue due out late in 2024.

If you want to be added to our mailing list or have news you'd like to share in the newsletter, please send a request to otheresa@sas.upenn.edu.

We'd love to hear from you!

2022-2023 NELC Newsletter

Events



Film Screening with Director Persis Karim

The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life
Dr. Persis Karim
Feb 13, 2025 at - | 401 Fisher-Bennett Hall at the University of Pennsylvania

"The Dawn Is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life" — a 55-min. documentary shares the complex personal and social histories that have brought Iranians to the San Francisco Bay Area for more than fifty years.…



To Hold a Mirror Up to Nature: The Case of Israeli Theatre

Roy Horovitz
Feb 19, 2025 at - | Penn Hillel, 1st floor Berkowitz Lounge

Contemporary Israeli theater is a vibrant world of intense creative activity. Using readings from selected scenes and screening clips from outstanding theatrical performances, this talk aims to expose the audience to…

Alumni Spotlight

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Pezavia O’Connell, PhD

Methodist Minister Activist, Educator , Scholar of Hebrew

Pezavia O'Connell (1861–1930) was an African American Methodist minister, activist, educator, and scholar of Hebrew.  He received a PhD in 1898 for a dissertation entitled, "Synonyms of the Clean and Unclean in Hebrew.”  This distinction made him the first African American to earn a PhD in Semitic languages in the United States.  Born…

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