Three Area Studies Centers Receive Federal Title VI Grants
Grants recognize successful collaboration between Duke and UNC
Three Duke area studies centers have received federal Title VI grants from the U.S. Department of Education for the 2018-2022 cycle, the Duke Center for International and Global Studies (DUCIGS) announced Tuesday.
The grants will benefit the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), Duke Middle East Studies Center (DUMESC), and the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies (CSEEES-SEELRC).
“This is a particularly great achievement this year when there was so much uncertainty in the future of funding for international education,” said Giovanni Zanalda, director of DUCIGS. “The fact that three out of three applications received funding is a remarkable result. We would like to congratulate the center directors and staff for all of their work in their respective programs. DUCIGS is also grateful to the Duke Office of Government Relations for their continued support of Title VI federal funding.”
Additionally, Zanalda highlighted the success of these programs as a great example of the collaboration between Duke and UNC.
The Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University has been designated a Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) and awarded Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships for the four-year grant cycle.
The NRC and FLAS grants, totaling over $2.3 million, will support and promote resources for research and training in Latin American Studies; library collections; collaborations across North Carolina; linkages in Latin America; and outreach activities with K-12 public schools, community colleges, other universities across the nation and the general public.
FLAS fellowships will support modern language training in less commonly taught languages of Latin America. The consortium, managed by the Duke Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the UNC Institute for the Study of the Americas, has been designated a National Resource Center continuously since 1991. Dr. Dennis Clements (professor of pediatrics, community and family medicine, and global health at Duke) and Louis A. Pérez (J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of History at UNC) co-direct the consortium.
The Consortium for Middle East Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University has been designated a Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) for the 2018-2022 cycle. The grant, totaling over $900,000, will generate activities and support for outreach and modern foreign language training; research about areas, regions or countries of the Middle East in which the modern foreign languages are commonly used; teacher-training activities on languages, area studies and thematic focus of the consortium; library collections; and linkages with overseas institutions of higher education that may contribute to greater understanding of the region.
The consortium, managed by the UNC Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations and the Duke Middle East Studies Center, has been designated a National Resource Center for the third consecutive time since 2010. Professors Charles Kurzman (UNC, Sociology), Carl Ernst (UNC, Religious Studies) co-direct the center at UNC; Professor Erdağ Göknar (Duke, AMES) directs the center at Duke.
The Slavic and Eurasian Language Resource Center (SEELRC) at Duke has been awarded a Title VI-Language Resource Center (LRC) grant for the 2018-2022 cycle. The SEELRC is the only LRC in the U.S. dedicated to the teaching of Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs) of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. The grant will enable SEELRC to support the development of authentic language instructional materials in multi-platform technological formats focused on advanced levels accessible at no cost to K-12 and university communities. Edna Andrews, professor of linguistics and cultural anthropology and the Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Professor of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, is the director of CSEEES and principal investigator of the SEELRC grant.