NELC majors acquire languages; learn how archaeologists, economists, historians, linguists, literary scholars and careful readers of legal, religious, economic and other kinds of texts critically evaluate evidence; and they acquire, largely in small class settings, analytical writing, thinking and research skills that will help prepare them for a variety of careers.

In an interdisciplinary area studies department like NELC, majors learn about the region through primary sources (material, oral or textual) and scholarly analysis, structuring their curriculum around various disciplines and methodologies: including stratigraphy and paleobotany, comparative literature, cultural and civilizational studies, economics and numismatics, gender studies, history (economic, political, religious and social), human rights, public policy, and digital humanities approaches.