The Middle Eastern and North African Studies (MENAS) minor, administered by the Humanities Division in partnership with the Center for the Middle East and North Africa (CMENA), supports the development of a robust knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa through a program that consists of a diverse set of courses across departments and divisions as well as the study of at least one regional language. Courses span the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts Divisions and draw on the varied and deep expertise of faculty in multiple academic departments that include the Departments of History, Politics, Anthropology, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Feminist Studies, Literature, Languages and Applied Linguistics, the History of Art and Visual Culture, and Film and Digital Media. The objective of the MENAS minor is to promote substantive regional knowledge, understanding, and curiosity among students who are interested in positioning themselves as global citizens.

To complete the minor, students must take three quarters of language instruction in Arabic, Hebrew, or Persian, or complete the highest-level course of their chosen language (ARBC 6, HEBR 4, PERS 4). They also will take one specified lower-division introductory course, and five upper-division courses whose primary focus is the history, politics, artistic production, and/or cultures of the Middle East and/or North Africa.

The minor consists of completing the language requirement and six additional courses from at least two different departments. Students can take up to two MENAS minor requirements pass/no pass. The remainder of the classes must be taken for a letter grade.