“I’ve wanted to minor in Arabic since I started at UofL, but they didn’t have a program for it,” said Gatsos.

Junior political science major Kristen Justice told a similar story.

“I found out about the minor sometime during the spring 2020 semester and wanted to declare it immediately. I believe I even emailed Khaldoun about it over the quarantine period,” Justice said.

Offered through the Classical and Modern Languages department, Arts and Sciences, the new degree comes amid growing student interest in Middle Eastern and African cultures and languages.   

Most of the classes are taught by professor and program coordinator Khaldoun Almousily, a popular instructor who has and is credited with igniting curiosity in Arabic language and culture.

“Arabic is a very beautiful language with rich history and high demand in the job market,” said Almousily.

“Arabic has only 28 letters. It takes students a day or two to learn to read and write in Arabic. The U.S. Department of State offers several fully funded scholarships to students to study Arabic abroad. Because of all that, a large number of students expressed their high interest. In the coming years, we will offer a major. We also are in the process of starting a translation course so students could start making money as translators and interpreters.”  

UofL also offers a minor in , an interdisciplinary program that provides instruction in languages, anthropology, art history, humanities, history and politics.  

Almousily’s work to build global understanding goes well beyond Kentucky. Affiliated for years with the Jordan-based Arab Council for the Gifted and Talented, he was appointed chair of the council’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee Sept. 7.   

The appointment gives Almousily a chance to lead a team of educators from 23 countries to develop and improve curriculum and instruction for Arab students and teachers.

“I have always wanted to make a difference in the education system in the Arab world,” Almousily said.  

He hopes his new appointment can directly benefit UofL too. His ideas include forging co-education partnerships between the university and the council, encouraging Arab graduate students to apply to UofL and opening doors for research and study abroad opportunities.

Almousily earned a Diversity Champion Award in 2017 and is a member of the Classical and Modern Languages department Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee.

For more information about the Arabic language minor, click

Compare that to the number of people studying Mandarin – roughly 30 million worldwide – and it is clear there is a gap to fill. Fortunately for UofL students, there is now that opportunity through the College of Arts & Sciences Classical & Modern Language Department’s Chinese Language minor program.

The program began accepting students for the first time in the fall. 

“One of the main reasons I came to UofL is that I am able to continue to learn Chinese,” said senior Kendall Malone, a Psychological & Brian Sciences major who is also enrolled in the minor program. “I plan on moving to China and bridging my psychology knowledge with my knowledge of Chinese language and culture to work addressing mental health issues there.”

The new language minor took the place of the department’s Chinese Studies minor, focused more on culture and history than language, which was transferred to the Asian Studies program. Now students can immerse themselves in a language-focused curriculum with two full-time faculty members devoted to developing and sustaining the program.

“Our undergraduates are well aware of the importance of the Chinese language — in addition to Chinese history and culture — in today’s globalized economy and diverse environment, and they welcome more opportunities to study it,” said Chinese language professor Li Zeng, director of the new minor program. “We are answering this increased demand by offering a recognized minor rather than just the occasional individualized offerings themselves.”

The Chinese Language minor provides learners of Mandarin Chinese with a standards-based, topically organized curriculum. The program promotes effective communication in Chinese, understanding of the Chinese civilization, and appreciation of global cultural diversity. Through full-fledged coursework from elementary to advanced levels, co-curricular activities, and a summer study abroad trip to China, this program complements majors as diverse as Business, Political Science, Humanities, Engineering, Geography, Medicine and History, among others. The program also opens up an array of scholarship opportunities through partnerships with U.S. government agencies, Chinese institutions, non-profit organizations and businesses.

“Apart from providing educational services for students’ language proficiency to make them better suited to today’s globalized world, this language-focused Chinese minor program also helps increase students’ success in receiving major grants like the Boren and Fulbright Awards, as well as university scholarships,” Prof. Zeng said.

For example, Chinese Studies minor and Speed School of Engineering alumnus Ben Arterburn (’08) received the prestigious Boren Award to pursue studies in China while an undergraduate at UofL. He went on to get an MA in Modern and Contemporary China from Columbia University and now works as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department. Chinese Studies minor and College of Business alumnus Will Scott (’09) was one of only 15 people worldwide accepted into the MA program in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford in 2009. And senior Calvin Grant, double majoring in Asian Studies and Geography and minoring in Chinese Language, received the World Scholars Scholarship to study Chinese in Beijing before returning to UofL to finish his undergraduate degree, intern at The Crane House and complete his senior thesis.

Even students like Kevin Zheng, who has speaks Mandarin at home with his parents, find formal instruction in the language important for future success.

“I did not learn Chinese in a school environment, which left me with a shaky foundation and not much room to improve,” said Zheng, a Chinese Language minor and Bioengineering major at the Speed School. “Learning it at an academic level helps me use language to understand interactions between people in other cultures, and it can assist me in getting a job in the future as it shows that I am capable and reliable to work with matters that require knowing Chinese.”

Since the establishment of the Chinese Language minor last semester, the program has accepted six students, is processing six more applications, and is continually fielding calls and emails from prospective students. Nationwide, the number of university students studying Chinese has tripled in recent years, according to the Modern Language Association.

Lucky for UofL, Jordanian native Khaldoun Almousily is exactly that type of teacher.

Although he has been at the university for just two semesters, his Arabic language classes in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Classical and Modern Languages Department have become popular and, now, four of his students have won prestigious Critical Language Scholarships (CLS) in Arabic.

The four CLS winners are , , and . All four credit Almousily’s instruction—plus his ability to weave a bit of history and culture into his curriculum—with their success in earning the award.

“He incites passion for Arabic and the Middle East in all of his students and is an incredible and patient instructor,” Pepper wrote.

Ball called Almousily “one of the most influential professors I have ever had.”

Apparently, Almousily’s penchant for teaching is a strong family trait. Two of his sisters and one brother, who still live in Jordan, are also Arabic teachers.

“I love teaching more than anything else and I love interacting with students,” Almousily said.

The is a fully funded language and cultural immersion program for college students. It is funded by the U.S. Department of State to build a larger pool of Americans who can speak foreign languages considered to be critical to the U.S. Candidates for the CLS in Arabic are required to have at least one year of college-level instruction.

Ball, a Manchester native, and Pepper, an Elizabethtown native, will both spend their CLS at Noor Majan Training Institute in Ibri, Oman.

Brawner, a Glendale native, will travel to Meknes, Morocco, and Wright, who is from Louisville, will study in Tangier, Morocco.

Almousily came to UofL in 2015 as an instructor and program coordinator of Arabic language. He previously was an interpreter/translator on state and federal levels and taught for five years at Western Kentucky University, where he was instrumental in building Kentucky’s and Western’s first major and minor in Arabic. He hopes to build a similar program for UofL.

He likes to keep students engaged in the classroom by giving them real-world, tangible experiences as they learn. He explains:

“When the unit is about things you need from a grocery store, we turn the classroom into a store were students design a shopping list and go to the market to buy several items they need for the dish they are making. When the unit is about clothing, I bring real clothes and turn the classroom into a market where students are divided into customers and salespeople. They talk about the design, materials and try to negotiate the price.”

He also likes to get students out of the classroom. He has organized field trips to an Islamic Center and has shown Arabic-speaking movies. Such approaches resonate well with students.

Wright wrote that he appreciates Almousily for “encouraging me to apply for a CLS and for really pushing me to be more comfortable speaking Arabic as opposed to just learning the material from a book.”

The CLS scholars will head to their respective destinations this summer.