University Times

The Center for Russian and East European Studies (REES) and the global studies program, both units of the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), recently received new designations.

REES was designated for the first time as a Title VI Comprehensive National Resource Center (NRC) by the U.S. Department of Education. Previously, the center had been recognized as an Undergraduate NRC, with Title VI funding primarily targeted to initiatives in undergraduate education.

The center’s new status acknowledges the excellence of REES’s graduate and professional school programs in addition to its traditionally strong undergraduate programs.

REES also received Title VI funding for foreign language and area studies fellowships which, under new U.S. Department of Education regulations, now are available to undergraduates as well as graduate students who are pursuing coursework in foreign languages and area studies.

REES will apply its new Title VI funds, totaling approximately $2.5 million over the next four years, to a variety of educational programs, including:

• Visiting faculty positions in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language and on Islam in southeastern Europe and Central Asia;

• Specialized training and proficiency assessment in critical need languages, including intensive summer language programs;

• Faculty-led study abroad courses in Turkey, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Poland;

• Interdisciplinary one-credit courses on contemporary issues in the REES world area;

• Linkages with East European universities, including those in countries with significant Muslim populations such as Bulgaria, Kosovo and Turkey;

• Annual graduate and undergraduate student conferences;

• Professional development workshops for educators, including non-traditional constituencies such as K-12 science teachers and community college faculty;

• Acquisition of library and film resources, and

• Graduate and undergraduate foreign language and area studies fellowships in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Turkish and Ukrainian.

In addition, the UCIS global studies program recently received its first-time designation as a National Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Education.

The Title VI grant totals approximately $1.5 million and will be applied over the next four years.

The global studies program fosters interdisciplinary, comparative and cross-cultural learning and research on critical global issues within the areas of the economy, health, security and society.

The program grants undergraduate and graduate certificates and, in cooperation with the University Honors College, offers the Bachelor of Philosophy in International and Area Studies degree.

The federal funding supports such global studies initiatives as:

• Increasing opportunities for scholarship through research and conference support for 40 global studies scholars and co-sponsorship of four major conferences on global issues;

• Expanding interdisciplinary course offerings in global health and the addition of global content to at least 20 courses, including 12 in Pitt’s professional schools;

• Providing opportunities for the advanced study of less commonly taught languages, specifically Turkish, Swahili and Farsi;

• Developing a new global-studies-themed historical library collection at Pitt that will be accessible to the public;

• Offering both graduate and undergraduate foreign language and area studies fellowships in Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi, Farsi, Portuguese, Swahili, Turkish and Urdu;

• Providing global studies and language pedagogy training via professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers and postsecondary faculty, and

• Increasing global content in two school districts serving a combined K-12 student population of approximately 27,000.