One of the earliest academic units founded at the American University of Beirut, the Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages, groomed and has itself been groomed by an impressive number of some of the most celebrated writers and men of letters in the Arab world: professors, graduates, and intellectuals. Aware of the issues of cultural identity and cultural evolution, the department has always sought to disseminate knowledge in the finest liberal tradition: training students in the basic tools of the discipline (language and research skills), exposing them to the essentials of the field, and subjecting the exercise to the curiosity of the critical and inquiring mind.