Missoula is a long way from the vast land known as Central and Southwest Asia. Yet when it comes to educating students about this part of the world, UM leads the way.

As the only American university offering an undergraduate degree in Central and Southwest Asian studies, UM has long recognized the importance of the region that includes the Middle East, North Africa, western China and the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

The University launched its program in 1997. Since then, interest in the region has grown exponentially, and the Central and Southwest Asia Program at UM has grown right along with it. Today UM offers a minor and a major in the field. More than 200 students take classes in the program each semester.

The demand for such graduates also is increasing, says Mehrdad Kia, associate provost for International Programs at UM and director of the Central and Southwest Asia Program. Several UM alums have gone on to careers with the U.S. Department of State and other government agencies.

“This program has a direct relationship to the emerging job market,” Kia says.

Graduates are well prepared for such careers because of the program’s highly interdisciplinary course of study. Perhaps most important, Kia says, is the two years of critical languages students can take.

In 2009 the UM program collaborated with Missoula County Public Schools to introduce Arabic language instruction to middle and high schools using U.S. Department of Education funding.

In fact, Kia says, the continued development of the UM program using grants from federal agencies such as the Education and State departments is a clear indication of its importance.

“The success of this program is what it offers academically,” Kia says, “but also that much of the funding has been generated by external grants and projects.”