Iranian Studies programs within the US

[greghubert]

Does anyone on here have any experience with Iranian studies programs? I'm currently reviewing different Middle Eastern Studies programs that allow for a focus on Iran and would like to get some advice from someone familiar with these programs.

 

While the better programs are likely Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, UCLA, Harvard, and NYU, I do not want to do my graduate studies in California and cannot afford any high tuition rates. Instead, I am interested in Middle Eastern Studies programs that have some Iranian Studies component at state schools within the US.

 

The University of Washington is one place, but there was a post on here from 2010 that was extremely critical of the Middle Eastern Studies department (saying that the Persian program there was underfunded and falling apart). The post said that there really is no "Middle Eastern Studies" department at the University of Washington and you basically pull together classes from other departments (political science, history, etc.) and the program is a bit of a mess.

 

Is this still the case? Does anyone have any recent experience with the University of Washington? The post suggested the University of Arizona at Tucson instead.

 

There is also Indiana University at Bloomington. It has a good reputation for language instruction and there are several faculty members that focus on Iran: Jamsheed Choksy, Paul Losensky, Nazif Shahrani). However, the Central Eurasian program is more focused on Central Asian states. It might be better to attend a program that is specifically Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on Iran. Is this an accurate assessment?

 

There is the University of Texas at Austin but with the exception of Kamran Scot Aghaie the faculty doesn't really have much in terms of Iranian studies according to the faculty page. They offer few Persian courses and it doesn't seem like they go up to a high level of instruction. It seems like the University of Arizona has higher level Persian instruction.

 

Are there any schools that I'm missing? It seems like that outside of perhaps UCLA the only programs that offer a master's degree in Iranian Studies by itself are outside of the US at places like St. Andrews and SOAS but if anyone has any input on what universities in the US I may have overlooked, please let me know. Thanks.