Six months after Sept. 11, the number of students interested in learning about Islamic culture and the Arabic language appear to have increased.

Courses and programs about the Middle East at Penn State are receiving more attention as part of students' efforts to better understand Islam.

Kathryn McCrea, international program adviser, expected to see a decrease in student enrollment in the Cairo, Egypt, study abroad program after Sept. 11. Instead, there turned out to be an increase, she said.

"Our project in Cairo is running full force, and we've had greater enrollment," McCrea said. "You would think people would have been more frightened of going to the Middle East, but it seems that students are more determined to bridge the gap."

Mootacem Mhiri, Arabic instructor, said he noticed an increase in student interest in studying the Arabic language since September.

Mhiri could not say exactly how many students became interested in beginning to learn Arabic after Sept. 11 because Arabic 1 (Elementary Modern Standard Arabic I) is only offered during fall semesters. Mhiri nonetheless expects enrollment in Arabic 1 to increase in fall 2002.

"I have no doubt that the enrollment will pick up visibly," he said.

Mhiri is currently teaching Arabic 2 (Elementary Modern Standard Arabic II), a class many students without prior experience with the language wanted to take after September.

"We have received numerous calls and e-mails from students asking whether they can start with Arabic 2 instead of Arabic 1 in the fall," he said.

Student interest in Arabic not only increased after Sept. 11, but also has been steadily rising each year, Mhiri said.

"There was an interest even before Sept. 11 events," he said.

The department recently added a fourth level of Arabic at the request of students enrolled in last semester's Arabic 3 (Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic) course, said Hicham El Amrani, Arabic instructor.

El Amrani said he designed the course with the intention of educating students about both the Arabic language and Islamic culture.

A course focusing on Islam, Comparative Literature 141 (Religion and Literature), will be taught this summer session, Mhiri said. The course, if successful in the summer, will also be taught this fall.

"We're going to try to address issues related to Islam and Arabic culture because of the interest," Mhiri said.

Janina Safran, assistant professor of history, said the students in her course last semester, History 181 (Introduction to the Middle East), attained a greater appreciation for the material after Sept. 11.

"People were talking and more actively interested in Islam in the weeks and months after Sept. 11," she said. "As an educator, it's been pretty exciting to see that students feel the course has relevance to their lives."

Safran said she has not seen a visible increase in the enrollment of her Middle East history courses this semester, since they are commonly full.