Applications Open for Selective Master of Middle East Policy Studies Program, Offering Full-Tuition Scholarships to Ease the Path to Public Service

The Pepperdine School of Public Policy announced that applications are now open for its Fall 2027 cohort of the Master of Middle East Policy Studies (MMEPS) program. Offered in partnership with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the newly launched two-year, full-time graduate program equips the next generation of foreign policy leaders with the diplomatic savvy and analytical rigor that twenty-first-century policymaking demands. The program accepts no foreign funding and, as with its first two cohorts, it provides full-tuition scholarships, enabling graduates to choose public service. 

The program welcomed its second cohort this fall, drawing students from across the country whose interests range from global trade to interreligious relations in the Middle East, and intelligence and counterterrorism. Alongside their core coursework, students study a regional language of their choice: Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, and Kurdish. Classes are held at Pepperdine’s Washington, D.C., campus, in the heart of the nation’s foreign-policy community, steps from the White House, the State Department, and the city's major diplomatic institutions.

The two-year, 45-unit MMEPS curriculum is organized around three core pillars: understanding the modern Middle East, analyzing U.S. foreign policy toward the region, and mastering the practical tools of policymaking. The program is complemented by immersive professional development and a multi-country Middle East policy study tour led by Washington Institute scholars.

“The United States is uniquely positioned to contribute to a peaceful and prosperous future for all people in the Middle East, and Pepperdine University can play an important role in preparing leaders for that work,” said Johnnie Moore, vice chancellor and managing director of the School of Public Policy’s Middle East policy studies program. “Our commitment to rigorous academic standards and viewpoint diversity creates a distinctive academic environment where students are invited to articulate their own convictions while seriously engaging perspectives different from their own. That kind of intellectual exchange develops thoughtful, principled leaders who will be prepared to contribute meaningfully to the region’s future.”

Central to the program's distinction is its partnership with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, America's leading research institution devoted exclusively to the region. MMEPS students learn directly from the experts and practitioners who have shaped U.S. policy in the Middle East. The program's faculty includes:

• Dr. Martin Kramer, preeminent historian of the modern Middle East
• Ambassador Dennis Ross, former U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace and advisor to four presidential administrations
• Dr. Robert Satloff, longtime Executive Director of The Washington Institute and a leading authority on Arab politics
• Matthew Levitt, Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow and Director of the Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute
• Dana Stroul, Director of Research at The Washington Institute and former Deputy
  Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East
• Jonathan Schanzer, Executive Director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former U.S. Treasury terrorism finance analyst
• Elizabeth Spalding, Foreign Policy scholar and Senior Fellow at Pepperdine
• Dr. Patrick Clawson, leading expert on Iran and the economies of the Middle East

Pepperdine invites qualified students pursuing careers in diplomacy, international development, defense, intelligence, international business and policy journalism. Applications are being accepted beginning today. To review admission criteria or begin an application, visit the Pepperdine MMEPS Program Page.