Area Studies Centers awarded grants to support language and world area expertise
Three Ohio State Area Studies Centers have been awarded more than $6.67 million in U.S. Department of Education funding for the next four years. These awards support language and area studies learning and provide grant opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and professional school students.
The Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Slavic and East European Studies and the East Asian Studies Center, all affiliated with the Office of International Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences, have been selected to receive Comprehensive National Resource Center and Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship grants for the 2018 – 2022 award period. The grants will be used by the Area Studies Centers to sponsor a wide range of academic activities, provide training for secondary school teachers, expand instructional initiatives and conduct outreach activities with community colleges and minority-serving institutions.
“We are thrilled to be able to secure Title VI funding again to promote East Asian studies on campus and beyond,” said Etsuyo Yuasa, associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and director of the East Asian Studies Center. “With this funding, we can support close to 100 student fellowships, about 200 lectures and conferences, numerous courses, and other activities over the next four years.”
Title VI National Resource Center grants are awarded to Area Studies Centers around the country to support foreign language, area, and international studies infrastructure. The support of these programs is an effort to ensure a steady supply of graduates with expertise in less commonly taught languages, world areas and transnational trends.
“It's such a privilege to be able to provide enhanced opportunities for students at all levels, as well as for Ohio State faculty, K-12 teachers, and our other partners here and around the country,” said Terrell Morgan, professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and director of the Center for Latin American Studies. “We're particularly excited about expanding instruction in less commonly taught languages, such as Portuguese and Quechua, as we focus students’ attention on Latin America, a region that is enormously relevant to their future.”
These grants are some of the only federal funding available that enables recipients to invest resources at both the secondary and post-secondary levels to maintain a strong foundation in area studies expertise and less commonly taught languages across disciplines and regions.
“The application process is extremely competitive and we are grateful for the many faculty, students, administrators and community partners who worked with us to develop these exciting projects that will come to fruition in the years to come,” Yuasa said.
FLAS fellowship funding, coupled with matching funds in the form of tuition awards from the Graduate School, allows the centers to provide academic year- and summer-long fellowships to undergraduate, graduate and professional school students undergoing training in less commonly taught languages and related area or international studies.
Annual National Resource Center and FLAS fellowship grants are as follows:
- Center for Latin American Studies
- National Resource Center funding: $218,017
- FLAS funding: $303,000
- Center for Slavic and East European Studies
- National Resource Center funding: $250,000
- FLAS funding: $349,500
- East Asian Studies Center
- National Resource Center funding: $233,300
- FLAS funding: $313,500
