# FY 2008 Project Abstracts

# 

# Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program

# 

# 

# 

# U. S. Department of Education

# Office of Postsecondary Education

# International Education Programs Service 

# [TULANE UNIVERSITY]{.underline}

*"The Tulane China Initiative:*

*Strengthening China Studies in Tulane University's Asian Studies
Program"*

# 

Tulane University is undertaking an ambitious course of action to foster
discussion and increase the university's capacity to prepare globally
minded undergraduate students to interact with an emerging global power.
Spearheaded by the Center for Global Education, the Tulane China
Initiative includes: the expansion of its Asian Studies program to offer
a distinct tract in China Studies; a new tenure-track position in
Chinese or Chinese Area studies in the School of Liberal Arts; support
funding for faculty development and research in China; new linkages with
Chinese universities to facilitate increased study abroad; enhancement
of on-campus library resources related to the study of Chinese language
and culture; and finally, the organization of academic and cultural
events to engage the campus community in the China dialogue. U.S.
Department of Education Title VI funds will go towards hiring a
tenure-track professor of Chinese and the development of advanced-level
China Studies courses taught in English and Mandarin, including a
capstone course, to complete the China Studies major track within the
Asian Studies program. In addition, funds will be used to support
development of existing faculty and fund new research activities in
China, while also increasing library and instructional resources in the
Asian Studies library and the Language Learning Center at Tulane.
Faculty development programs in China will also allow Tulane faculty to
connect more closely with existing study abroad programs in China, and
develop new relationships with Chinese institutions for undergraduate
study abroad.

The proposed tenure-track position in Chinese will join an existing
faculty that includes a full-time non-tenure track Professor of Practice
in Chinese, as well as two adjunct instructors of Chinese. Additional
Asian Studies faculty are drawn from various departments in the School
of Liberal Arts, which will be discussed further in the proposal. The
proposed language and area studies courses will build on the current
Chinese language program at Tulane that offers courses through the sixth
semester of instruction, as well as a variety of courses on China in
departments throughout the School of Liberal Arts. Each semester, the
proposed tenure-track professor will teach two China Studies courses:
one China Studies course (in fields such as political science, history,
communication, film, or literary and cultural studies) in Chinese that
would in effect be the seventh or eighth semester in the Chinese
language curriculum. This course would also accommodate students
returning from Tulane's intensive language and Chinese culture study
abroad in Beijing, China (elaborated later). The second China Studies
course would be taught in English in that proposed tenure-track
professor's field of specialization. This person will also work with the
co-director of Asian Studies to develop the China Studies capstone
seminar. The China Studies track in the Asian Studies program will
therefore include eight semesters of Chinese language instruction (six
courses on grammar, composition and spoken Mandarin, and two China
Studies courses), as well as China Studies courses in English, a portion
of which may be completed abroad. Our objective is that the students
completing the major will leave the program with the linguistic
competency ("advanced \[low to high\]" in the categories of listening,
reading, writing, and speaking according to the guidelines of the
American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages \[ACTFL\]) and
cultural literacy (according to the guidelines of the Intercultural
Development Inventory \[IDI\]) to allow them to have a meaningful impact
on United States-China relations, whether that be in politics, business,
the arts, or any other field.

**[WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

*"China\'s Re-Emergence:*

*Educating, Informing, and Engaging Ohioans in the Asian Century"*

The primary objective of this project is to develop and strengthen
Wright State University's curricular and co-curricular efforts in Asian
Studies over a two-year period. This will entail the creation of new
region-based courses, the expansion of Mandarin Chinese language
offerings, and enhancing the University's present education abroad
programs in Asia. An effort will be made to build on existing
institutional strengths in international studies and to encourage the
further development of interdisciplinary and cross-collegial cooperation
in this vital area.

The goals and major activities of the project include:

• Establishing a regional concentration in Asian Studies within the
undergraduate major in International Studies;

• Expanding modern language offerings to include the third-year sequence
courses in Chinese, including Business Chinese;

• Adding five additional upper-division courses and one general
education course to the curriculum which focus on Transformation and
Urbanization in Asia to augment and enhance existing strengths in Asian
Studies offered in the College of Liberal Arts, Raj Soin College of
Business, and College of Science and Mathematics;

• Enhancing campus education abroad programs to provide additional
opportunities for study and practical experiences in Asia;

• Supporting new curricular and co-curricular programs and course
offerings by expanding University Library resources in Chinese and Asian
Studies;

• Offering an Asian Symposium on campus in collaboration with community
members, international and regional partners, and the Wright Patterson
U.S. Air Force Base; and

• Providing Workshops for K-12 Educators and Faculty Members on Chinese
and Asian Studies.

This project will produce an enhanced international studies and foreign
language program at Wright State, develop critical and vital curriculum
for our students, and expand co-curricular programming on campus, in our
community, and abroad.

**[GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

## "Building Critical Language Competency and Middle East Studies"

The Middle East Institute (MEI) at Georgia State University (GSU) is the
only institution in the 34-member University System of Georgia to offer
an undergraduate degree in Middle East Studies and an extensive academic
outreach program to the K-16 community. Through a set of integrated
activities, this project will expand the Institute's ability to deliver
critical language and international studies instruction, and teacher
training throughout the state. This grant will allow:

• Intensive Arabic courses leading to achievement of advanced
proficiency

• Regular assessment of Arabic students' proficiency

• A new "Arabic Language and Culture Workshop" for K-12 educators

• Development of a Turkish language program

• Workshops and seminars for non-specialist college educators

• Expansion of Middle East content area courses throughout the GSU
curriculum

• Increased student opportunities to connect with the Middle East

GSU is fully committed to building a nationally recognized Middle East
Studies program. Currently the southeast United States is a critically
underserved area in terms of opportunities in Middle East Studies and
instruction in the less commonly taught languages. The proposed
activities will have a lasting impact on granting access to a diverse
student population in the region that currently lacks highly developed
programs in Middle East Studies.

# [UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND]{.underline}

# 

# *"Enhancing Internationalization in the Humanities: Focus on the Middle East"*

In light of the significant and increasing importance of the languages,
cultures, politics and religions of the Middle East, and in order to
provide our students with a greater understanding of this significant
region, the University of Richmond requests a grant for "Enhancing
Internationalization in the Humanities: Focus on the Middle East" from
the U.S. Department of Education's Title VI Undergraduate International
Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) program.

We propose creating an interdisciplinary Middle Eastern Studies minor
that reflects breadth of cultural, political, philosophical and
religious aspects represented in the Middle East. We also propose to
expand the related language offerings at the University. The impetus for
the proposed minor in Middle Eastern Studies is the success of our
Arabic language program, which is now in its second year. The demand for
elementary and intermediate Arabic language courses has been high and
students have expressed a strong interest in pursuing their studies of
Middle Eastern language and culture beyond the intermediate level. We
will also expand opportunities for students to pursue the study of
Persian/Farsi, Modern Hebrew, and Turkish in addition to Arabic and
Biblical Hebrew. Undergraduate students will have the option of learning
languages that are not supported by the regular curriculum using
self-directed study that will be mentored and assessed by regional
experts. Persian/Farsi, Modern Hebrew and Turkish will expand the
linguistic and cultural range of the proposed Middle Eastern Studies
minor and complement existing courses that deal with the history,
culture and politics of the Middle East. Richmond has a thriving
undergraduate International Studies program and provides fertile ground
for the establishment of a new interdisciplinary minor program in Middle
Eastern Studies. The proposed program will address both a curricular
need on campus and a national and global responsibility. The Middle
Eastern Studies minor will provide students with a background in the
language, history, culture and politics of the Middle East that will
broaden their understanding of international relations and make them
emissaries for cross-cultural communication.

Title VI funds will enable us to establish a structured minor in Middle
Eastern Studies that combines courses currently offered with a targeted
set of courses that will be developed over the two years of the grant.
The University's program in Arabic, now in its second year, is limited
to the establishment of an elementary and intermediate language
sequence. The Title VI grant will provide the necessary financial
support to expand Arabic instruction beyond the intermediate level and
create an environment where faculty from other programs and departments
will have support to develop and teach courses that will connect
international studies with background in the languages of the Middle
East. As the program grows, the University will hire a tenure-track
faculty member in Arabic and Arabic Studies in the second year f the
proposed program. Institutional approval for a study abroad program in
Jordan is in place and the Title VI funding will generate the momentum
to launch an exchange program. The Jordan study abroad exchange program
will provide students pursuing a Middle Eastern Studies minor with the
opportunity to improve their language and cultural proficiency and
expand their knowledge of the region. The UISFL grant will enable us to
establish a flourishing minor program that will merit receiving
continued support from the University of Richmond.

**[DICKINSON COLLEGE]{.underline}**

### "Developing a Middle East Studies Major"

Dickinson College has a longstanding commitment to and reputation for
excellence in international education. Our internationalized curriculum
and innovative study abroad programs, which link course work on the home
campus with direct, extended encounter with foreign cultures, have
provided effective, nationally-recognized models for undergraduate
learning from a global perspective. In response both to vital national
interests and strong demand among our students, we are expanding our
global education efforts through the introduction of a new
interdisciplinary Middle East Studies (MES) major. Modeled on our
successful interdisciplinary programs in East Asian and Russian Area
Studies, the MES major will combine language study on-campus and abroad,
courses in the humanities and social sciences, and a senior research
experience. We request support to launching this important enhancement
of global education.

Our proposed project has the following goals: regularize Arabic language
instruction at Dickinson, create study abroad opportunities for students
in the Arab world, expand curricular offerings for the MES major,
augment library and teaching resources for both MES courses and Arabic
language, and add a public outreach dimension to the MES program. The
project meets the nation's security and economic needs by strengthening
an interdisciplinary MES program and Arabic language instruction. Our
proposal addresses two authorized activities: a) development of an
interdisciplinary area studies program and its language; and b)
establishment of study abroad opportunities for students in overseas
settings.

**[MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY - BOZEMAN]{.underline}**

## "Impacting the International Studies Major and Foreign Languages"

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures (MLL) proposes to lay
the foundation for an interdisciplinary International Studies major at
Montana State University (MSU). This project has four goals: (1) to work
with key personnel on campus in an International Studies Workshop that
will build intellectual infrastructure for the program; (2) to develop a
sophomore-level "Gateway" course, "Issues in International Studies," to
be designed and co-taught with key workshop participants; (3) to create
three and revise two advanced courses in MLL to build a curriculum for
an International Studies major in target languages and to enhance
participation of pre-professional students; (4) and to begin building a
Chinese-language and culture component to an Asian Studies major.
Federal funding, combined with support from MSU, will allow the MLL to
begin offering Chinese language and culture courses and to acquire
needed library materials to support the new, interdisciplinary
International Studies major. Faculty members in current MLL majors have
targeted these four goals to address the rapid pace of change in the
different MLL majors at MSU and the increasingly international
community. This consensus is driven by the conviction that foreign
language acquisition is a key component in attaining the international
cultural competency necessary to overcome the relative isolation of this
campus. Foreign language skills must be combined with the content of an
International Studies major to provide students with both the knowledge
and practical skills they need to succeed. MSU has the faculty resources
to support the project, and the commitment to foreign-language
instruction and international programs to secure the long-term success
of the project. The International Studies (IS) Workshop will provide the
forum for a cross-campus discussion on how faculty from the humanities,
social sciences, and professional programs (including Business, Nursing,
and Agriculture) can combine their energies and expertise to design
courses that focus on global issues from a variety of perspectives. The
advanced courses within MLL will be created and revised to deepen the
students' knowledge of global trends while concentrating on specific
nations and regions. The new and revised courses will meet growing
student needs for skills and knowledge required to understand the
social, cultural, and economic factors of the global marketplace. During
the first year, an Internal Steering Committee (ISC) will organize and
host the IS Workshop. The Gateway course will be offered in the spring.
The ISC will evaluate course designs, library acquisitions, and
assessment documents, and oversee the funding of any professional
development for faculty. During the second year, the new and revised
courses will be offered under the rubric, "International Studies." These
courses will serve to internationalize the traditional "national" aspect
of foreign-language and cultural acquisition. The project will close
with an Outreach Workshop for local schools. With the support of
colleagues and administrators, the MLL will design and implement an
International Studies major that provides students with advanced
proficiency in a foreign language, expertise in a national and regional
culture, and deep knowledge of that region's role in transnational and
global forces.

**[UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA - GREENSBORO]{.underline}**

## "Project to Develop the Asian Studies Major"

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) intends to develop
an Asian Studies Major providing advanced offerings in Japanese and
Chinese (Mandarin) language and culture and an enhanced selection of
Asia-centered undergraduate courses in the humanities, arts, social
sciences, and business. This program responds to the ever-growing
prominence of mainland and maritime East, Southeast, and South Asia in
the new millennium, to the nationally recognized need to educate our
students in the languages and cultures of this vast region, and to
documented interest among UNCG students. The new Asian Studies Major
will be based within the interdisciplinary International and Global
Studies (IGS) Program, an undergraduate special program supported by
UNCG's College of Arts and Sciences, and it will represent an expansion
of the long-standing Asian Studies Minor presently located among the
five specialty areas of the Program's Regional Studies concentration. In
addition, the Major will give academic focus to the current buffet of
Asia-centered courses offered by faculty experts across the campus. It
will also promote greater study abroad to the region by encouraging
students to participate in existing partnerships in Japan and China and
by establishing new alliances with institutions in Taiwan and Macau. To
be complemented by a regular series of public lectures, films, concerts
and cultural collaborations with Chinese and Indian civic organizations
in our area, the Major will likewise serve to increase an awareness and
understanding of Asia on and off campus. Students graduating with the
Major will acquire a measurable advanced-level proficiency of an Asian
language (primarily Japanese or Mandarin) as well as Asia-focused
content knowledge in a range of academic disciplines. Graduates will
likewise be more attractive candidates for employment in sectors of
government service, business, education, and non-government
organizations. Through their experiences as participants in the Major's
recommended study abroad opportunities and regular community-outreach
collaborations, students will also earn significant credit toward
completion of UNCG's extra-curricular Global Leadership Program. This
accomplishment will further enhance their "value" in the career market
and as responsible global citizens.

Consistent with the purpose of the Undergraduate International Studies
and Foreign Language (UISFL) program, the overarching objectives of the
project are (1) to strengthen the undergraduate instruction of foreign
languages by subsidizing the hiring of faculty qualified to design and
teach four upper-level courses on Japanese and Chinese language and
culture; and (2) to strengthen the International and Global Studies
Program by providing for the creation of the Asian Studies Major and a
complement of eight new courses (to include two new team-taught capstone
core offerings for all IGS majors and two international service-learning
courses) in a variety of disciplines focusing on Asia. Related
objectives include the promotion of study abroad to the region,
community outreach, and the development of library resources benefiting
students, faculty, staff, and the general public.

**[WELLESLEY COLLEGE]{.underline}**

*"Strengthening South Asia Studies"*

Wellesley College seeks to extend the reach of its South Asia Studies
Program's language and other curricular offerings to a wider group of
our students, faculty, and other community members in order to fully
prepare our students for successful lives and careers in this ever
increasingly global society. We seek to accomplish this goal by: (1)
improving our language teaching of Hindi/Urdu by offering more intensive
instruction at the elementary and intermediate levels, developing new
pedagogical materials, and supporting intensive summer language study in
South Asia and the United States; (2) providing multiple opportunities
that will enable faculty to enhance their course offerings with South
Asia subjects; (3) developing opportunities for students to extend
learning beyond the campus through study and internship opportunities in
South Asia and strengthened relationships with alumnae; and (4)
expanding South Asian library and museum resources, and sponsoring
related exhibitions, publications and community events.

At the conclusion of the two year project, Wellesley will have
strengthened our language instruction; created a new intermediate
Hindi/Urdu language course; provided professional development
opportunities to a dozen faculty members; infused South Asia content
across the curriculum; offered a number of educational and cultural
events for faculty, students, and others in the community who are
interested in learning about this part of the world; and enhanced both
our library and museum collections. As a result, we anticipate that the
numbers of students majoring or minoring in South Asia Studies will
increase, and that the number of students who pursue further language
study either through summer programs or regular semester or year-long
study abroad programs will increase. In addition, we believe that
Wellesley will be an active participant and leader in varied
interactions with other Boston-area educational institutions and in the
local Consortium for South Asia Scholars; that an Indian art exhibition
and related symposium to be held at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center
will result in further appreciation and interest in the culture and
politics of tribal communities in India; and that the recent gift to the
College's South Asia library collection will expand significantly the
research and teaching resources for teaching about various facets of
South Asia culture and history.

# [GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY]{.underline}

## "Internationalizing Liberal Arts and Social Science Education for All"

Our initiative aims to expand and to enrich international undergraduate
liberal arts and social sciences education at Georgia Southern
University (USG), targeting those students who are not currently seizing
the opportunity (or desire) to become better informed about the rest of
the world. Inspired by the American Council on Education's commitment to
"comprehensive internationalization," and echoed by the Association of
American Colleges and Universities, our holistic approach combines
"internationalization at home" -- including curricular and pedagogic
activities\-- with "internationalization abroad" -- ensuring student and
faculty mobility and the delivery of rigorous and relevant program.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) of Georgia
Southern University aims to internationalize its curriculum in response
to a national call for internationalization of the curriculum, USG
mandates for internationalization, Georgia Southern University's own
emphasis on trans-cultural opportunities, and our students' perception
of the inadequacy of our current international curriculum. We aim to
enhance language acquisition and competency, internationalize our core
curriculum and upper-division courses, establish a certificate program
identifying our students as global citizens, and to develop a Global
Citizens course, a component of the First Year Experience curriculum.
This is a student-centered proposal, guided by our vision of a four-year
plan which features foreign language study throughout one's career: an
introduction to the complexity of the modern world in Year 1 (the Global
Citizen course); deepening of the introduction through internationalized
general education courses in Year 2; study abroad in Year 3; and earning
the Global Citizen Certificate and interning in an international
government agency, private enterprise, or non-governmental organization.

Specific steps include:

1\. Curriculum development, which includes: internationalizing the core
curriculum offerings of the College; development of the Global Citizen
course; internationalizing upper division courses; and creating the
Global Citizen Certificate Program;

2\. Enhanced language acquisition, which include the creation of
content-based language courses taught in conjunction with content
courses;

3\. Faculty Development Seminars in Asia and Africa to provide faculty
with a greater understanding of the human mosaic; and

4\. Community outreach which includes: symposia/workshops; expert
bureau; teaching materials library to share our expertise with the wider
community.

**[ARCADIA UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

*"Preparing Students for Life in a Rapidly Changing Global Society:*

## The New Undergraduate Curriculum"

The purpose of this proposal is to seek funds for the development of
curricular experiences that will help students accomplish the following
goals:

1\. To integrate the knowledge and skills acquired through study abroad
with the learning they have done on Arcadia's home campus; and

2\. To appreciate the study of languages other than English in their
efforts to learn about the world.

3\. By accomplishing goals one and two, to develop a deeper
understanding of the interconnections, interdependencies, and inequities
inherent in a global perspective. Over the past two years, Arcadia
University has completely revised its undergraduate curriculum to ensure
that our students truly are "prepared for life in a rapidly changing
global society" (Arcadia University mission statement). In April of
2007, the Arcadia University faculty approved this new curriculum (which
will begin with the incoming class of fall 2008), containing four types
of curricular experiences, four areas of inquiry and five intellectual
practices. These requirements overlap in multiple ways, with each other
and with the major requirements.

The funds we are requesting will be used to support this new curriculum
in five particular ways:

\(1\) to develop a series of reflection courses to assist with students
transforming study abroad from a travel experience to a truly academic
learning experience and to connect what they learned abroad with their
work on our Glenside campus; (2) to develop interdisciplinary University
seminars that integrate the study of language with other disciplines to
support our ongoing efforts to increase the language competence of all
of our students; (3) aimed initially for students majoring in
international studies and international business and culture, to create
new courses within our modern language department that will bring
students to spoken competency in one year, thereby allowing them to
participate in global connections experiences in places that require
competence in languages other than English; (4) to set up a new study
abroad opportunity for our first-year students in a setting that
requires competence in a language other than English; and (5) to
continue to broaden our modern language offerings so that our students
can participate in an ever growing number of study abroad options.

This project builds on the work that Arcadia University has been doing
for decades. It helps us to continue our well documented success in
study abroad and it helps us to intentionally focus our efforts in
integrated learning in the areas of study abroad and language study.

**[UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON]{.underline}**

## "Enhancing the African Studies Program"

The African Studies Program at the University of Washington (UW) plans
to extend and deepen the reach of African Studies, transcending
traditional area studies boundaries by focusing attention on
accessibility of African Studies curriculum in the professional schools
and by building a transnational curricular emphasis on the Greater Horn
of Africa. We will also add language instruction in Amharic, Tigrinya,
and Zulu. Funding through the Title VI Undergraduate International
Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) program will enable our program to
accomplish the following three objectives:

1\. Extend the reach and depth of African Studies: (a) We will extend
the reach of African Studies by developing a problem-focused
three-quarter course sequence designed for undergraduates in the
professional schools. This course sequence will comprise a core course,
two quarters of language instruction, and will culminate in a summer
practicum in Nairobi, Kenya. The core course, "Health, Development, and
Social Transformation in the Greater Horn of Africa," will be
team-taught by faculty from the schools of law, social work, public
health, and interdisciplinary arts and sciences. During the first year
of the grant cycle, the course will focus on health, development
paradigms, and the implications of the millennium development goals, and
in the second, on human rights and sustainable development. Instruction
in Swahili will be offered as the second quarter course in this
sequence, with a focus on linguistic and cultural competence for
practicum abroad. Quarter three comprises a practicum placement in
Nairobi, combined with an integrative seminar and continued language
instruction. (b) We will deepen our curriculum by establishing a
regional focus on the Greater Horn of Africa and its Diaspora. Seattle
is home to a growing population with family ties in the Horn, many of
whom are entering the university as undergraduates. Through experiential
learning, African Studies students have gained "hands-on" knowledge
about issues important to communities within Africa and within African
immigrant communities in the Northwest. Faculty course development
grants and a seminar will foster the development of courses that
incorporate a substantial amount of content on the Greater Horn and its
Diaspora. We will augment our offerings through community outreach.

2\. Increase instruction in African Languages: We will expand African
language instruction by adding two quarters of Swahili instruction (one
funded by UISFL), and year-long instruction in elementary Amharic,
Tigrinya, and Zulu. These additions will support the activities in
Objective 1 and will complement our existing strengths in Swahili, as
well as in the Africa-relevant languages of Arabic, French, and
Portuguese.

3\. University -- Community Outreach: Enhancing links between the UW
African Studies Program and the wider African community offers enormous
synergy in terms of our short and long term objectives. We will enhance
links between the UW African Studies Program and the wider African
community through our one-day course development workshop, the Puget
Sound Area Workshop for Africanist scholars, and the acquisition of
library materials and other instructional resources.

# 

# [UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN -- RIVER FALLS]{.underline}

## "Enhancing the Asian Studies Program"

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls (UWRF) is a regional
comprehensive university with a total enrollment of 6,220. In recent
years, UWRF has internationalized its campus and curriculum by creating
International Studies major and minor programs, enlarging its
international programs office, greatly expanding its study abroad
programs, and hiring faculty with international experience and
interests.

The overall goal of the UWRF Asian Studies Program is to enrich and
enhance our existing international education programs by incorporating
the study of Asia, a region with unique history and cultures and
increasing political and economic influences in today's shrinking world,
into the university curriculum; and to make available our Asia-related
expertise to the larger community that has shown increased cultural,
educational and economic interest in Asia in the past several years. The
program will include:

• An Asian Studies minor---27 credits total, including two years of
Chinese or Japanese, core and distribution courses, a research project,
study in Asia, and a Senior Capstone Seminar;

• Expanded Chinese and Japanese language instruction;

• New and enhanced courses in Asian history, politics, arts, geography,
and philosophy/religion;

• Faculty development opportunities to enable current instructors to
infuse Asian Studies topics into new or existing courses;

• Research/scholarship opportunities for students and faculty; and

• Co- and extra-curricular activities focusing on Asian topics or
issues: performances, speakers, festivals, colloquia.

The Asian Studies Program will be evaluated both summatively and
formatively, using quantitative and qualitative methods.

#### SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY

*"Strengthening the Middle East and Islamic Studies Minor**"***

Our project is to strengthen and expand our newly approved Middle East
and Islamic Studies (MEIS) minor through curricular innovation, outreach
activities, and efforts to connect the faculty across the California
State University (CSU) system in a MEIS faculty collaborative. Our goal
is to address the growing need in government and private institutions
for college graduates knowledgeable in Middle Eastern languages as well
as culture, politics and history of the region and of Islam.

San Francisco State University (SFSU) currently enrolls nearly 30,000
students; it is the fifth largest campus within the 23-campus CSU
system, and it is the 46^th^ largest of all four-year colleges and
universities in the United States. We are proud to serve a diverse and
international student body, and we take our mandate to educate informed
citizen who can meet contemporary challenges. Within the broader context
of setting university-wide goals to internationalize SFSU's curriculum,
President Corrigan initiated a five-year cluster hire in Middle East and
Islamic Studies in 2002, which resulted in a the current appointment of
16 faculty members in four colleges who teach at least one course with
Middle East or Islamic Studies content. We now need to strengthen the
institutional infrastructure in order to provide our students with the
best possible learning outcomes and our faculty with opportunities to
create new classes, initiate programs, and engage in system-wide
research initiatives.

We want to improve our existing MEIS program in three important areas:

1\) Academic Curriculum Development: This area includes the development
of a year-long foundational course which will become a requirement for
all SFSU students in our future major. Equally importantly, we want to
expand current language program so we can offer two-year programs in
Arabic and Persian (currently we only offer three semesters of Arabic).
We also want to create study abroad program opportunities by seeking out
institutions of higher learning in Egypt, Israel, and Turkey.

2\) Outreach into the Community: We will incorporate community service
learning opportunities in our MEIS minor to allow our students to
connect academic and civil learning through internship assignments with
local Middle East or Muslim community groups. Moreover, we will begin an
innovative partnership between MEIS and the College of Education, in
order to build MEIS Teaching Modules that elementary and secondary
school teachers-in-training can use in their future classrooms.

3\) CSU-wide MEIS Faculty Initiative: In an effort to accessed presently
underutilized resources distributed across the CSU system, we plan to
create an active network of scholars who research and teach California
state students. We need a coordinating body of faculty members at all
California State University (CSU) institutions that currently offer MEIS
classes to find existing strengths and gaps in our course offerings.
Drawing on our network of CSU colleagues, we will plan and hold a
CSU-wide Bi-Annual Middle East and Islamic Studies Symposium, to be
repeated every other year, and open to the public at large.

**[THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY]{.underline}**

## "Iran and Beyond: Strengthening the International Studies and Foreign Language

*Curriculum in Middle Eastern and Central Eurasian Studies"*

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) proposes to strengthen three
interrelated components of international studies -- foreign language,
curriculum development, and study abroad--- through an interdisciplinary
initiative uniquely centered on the greater Iranian world. By centering
on Iran and broadening out to consider its Middle Eastern, Central
Asian, and South Asian neighbors, the TCNJ plan focuses on two critical
world regions in the international studies program: the Middle East and
Central Eurasia, and on two critical languages, Arabic and Persian. The
proposed program, coordinated by the International Studies faculty,
represents the combined efforts of 13 full-time faculty and one
instructor from eight departments across multiple disciplines. Building
on existing faculty expertise and course offerings, this design connects
the School of Culture and Society, the School of Arts and Communication,
and the School of Business. It enhances the breadth and quality of
Modern Language and International Studies programs by expanding our
two-year program in Arabic to include advanced courses and developing a
minor in Arabic; developing a two-year language program in Persian
through an innovative collaboration with Rutgers University Center for
Middle Eastern Studies and the use of Internet2 technology; expanding
the curriculum in Middle Eastern and Central Eurasian Studies; and
offering a special seminar on Central Asia in spring 2010, linked to a
student/faculty study-tour in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

To strengthen interdisciplinary links and support curriculum
development, faculty will participate in a series of eight workshops
(four per year) led by recognized scholars in the field of Iranian and
Central Eurasian studies. Two of these scholars each year will be
invited to present public lectures sponsored by International Studies,
which will stimulate interest in Iran and Central Eurasia.

Overall, the project has the following six objectives:

• Implement a language program (four semesters) in Persian;

• Expand the Arabic language program by adding two advanced-level
courses and developing the new Arabic minor;

• Assess outcomes in Persian and Arabic through an external evaluator
experienced in distributed learning of languages;

• Design 18 new courses and revise four others in Middle Eastern and
Central Eurasian Studies;

• Increase faculty knowledge of the greater Iranian world and its
relationships with neighboring regions through professional development
opportunities, including workshops, campus visits by distinguished
scholars across disciplines and the development of a faculty exchange
program in Turkey and Tajikistan; and

• Provide TCNJ students and faculty with a deeper appreciation of Middle
Eastern and Central Eurasian societies by expanding study abroad and
developing a student exchange program in Turkey and Tajikistan and a
study-tour in Central Eurasia.

**[UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS]{.underline}**

## "Enhancing Asian Studies"

This project seeks to accomplish two major objectives in the Fulbright
College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
(UA): (a) the creation of a minor in the Chinese language with a
business concentration to complement our existing minor in Japanese with
a business concentration; and (b) the development of our existing Asian
Studies minor into a major. Fulbright College has witnessed a sustained
growth in enrollment in our Chinese language classes. However, we are
constrained in our ability to develop a minor in Chinese with a business
focus and a major in Asian Studies due to the lack of faculty resources.
Such a situation is unsustainable in the long-run given UA's status as
the flagship institution of higher learning in Arkansas and the growing
commercial ties between the State of Arkansas and China. The creation of
a Chinese language minor and an Asian Studies major will help to remedy
this situation. It will not only make our students more marketable with
potential employers and more competitive in graduate schools, but would
also help to better serve the growing needs of the State of Arkansas.

The proposed project will undertake several steps in order to achieve
its objectives of developing a degree program in Chinese with a business
orientation and strengthening the interdisciplinary Asian Studies
Program. First, we propose to hire a tenure-track assistant professor
capable of teaching courses in both the Chinese language and Chinese
literature. This ought to help us increase our course offerings, in
particular advanced courses that we have hitherto been unable to offer
to our students. Second, to enhance the quality of our Chinese language
instruction, we propose to use federal funding to support the summer
training of our faculty at Chinese institutions offering special courses
on instructional methods in business Chinese. Third, to foster student
awareness and increase their interests in the Asian languages and
cultures, we propose to hold a China semester in Spring 2009 and a Japan
semester in Spring 2010. For example, the 2009 China Semester will
feature guest lectures by prominent China scholars and cultural
activities related to China. It is hoped that exposing our students to
the cultural, historical, and societal contexts of these Asian countries
will in turn help facilitate their language acquisition. Finally, it is
the ultimate goal of this project to create the two degree programs
mentioned above.

The project will use a combination of criteria to evaluate its success:
(a) externally-validated test scores; (b) enrollment data in our degree
programs; (c) number of new course offerings; and (d) student
self-assessment of language abilities and learning experience. In short,
it is expected that the use of federal funding would result both in a
rigorous Chinese language program and an integrated, interdisciplinary
program in Asian studies that will provide a superior learning
experience for our students. We shall strive to make optimal use of our
resources to develop our Asian Studies Program into a leading program of
its kind both in Arkansas and in the surrounding states.

**[STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK - PLATTSBURGH]{.underline}**

# *"Latin American Studies for the Professions"*

The economic, legal, and security integration of the diverse societies
of the Americas is accelerating rapidly. A consequence has been an
accelerated flow of formal and informal migrants from Mexico and other
Latin Americans into the United States. Latin Americans constitute the
largest number of recent immigrants to the United States. Within this
stream, those of Mexican origin are the most numerous. Hemispheric
immigrants to the United States have settled in every major metropolitan
area and most rural regions. Yet the cultures of Latin Americans remain
sharply differentiated from one another and from those of this country.
Given the combination of demographic integration and cultural diversity,
career opportunities for citizens of the United States are increasingly
dependent upon their understanding the social structures of Latin
America, the cultures of Latino immigrants, and Spanish. This is
especially the case for elementary- and secondary-school teachers,
social workers and nurses. The project proposed here addresses this
problem by preparing undergraduates at the State University of New York
(SUNY) - Plattsburgh in four areas of professional study for work in the
multi-cultural 21st century.

We accomplish this through a Minor in Latin American Studies (LAS) for
the Professions, designed for undergraduates in Adolescent Education,
Childhood Education, Nursing and Social Work. The program conveys
career-relevant information through a series of educational experiences
that combine the expertise of faculty in Latin American Studies,
Spanish, the four professional programs, with the knowledge of
practitioners working within these areas in Mexico. In their first year,
students take a Freshman Experience seminar and Introduction to Latin
America, combined with two semesters of Spanish. In the second year,
they participate in a study-abroad semester in Oaxaca, Mexico, that
includes two social science courses on Latin America, two Spanish
courses in an immersion setting, and a field placement with a school,
social service agency, or rural community addressing issues related to
the students' majors. Upon return to campus, students take a capstone
seminar on Latino/a immigration to the United States, taught in both
English and Spanish, and finish the program by taking a course in their
major enhanced with Latin American content.

A faculty team representing all participating departments has designed
and will periodically evaluate the program. After taking a Spanish
seminar for faculty, the team travels to Mexico to visit sites for field
placements. Team members then work with their departments to embed
appropriate Latin American content into one required course. They select
speakers for a college-wide lecture program who will also advise
departments on course enhancement. The speaker series, departmental
brochures, and recruitment within high schools will publicize the
program. Those completing the new minor will have obtained foundational
and career-specific knowledge of Latin America and a functional level of
Spanish. The curricula of four departments will have been enhanced with
LAS content and a cohort of students whose complex majors have made it
difficult to schedule Latin American Studies, intermediate Spanish, or
study abroad in the past will be integrated into these programs.

**[COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON]{.underline}**

## "Development of a Global Scholars Program"

There is near universal agreement that, in order to confront the
twenty-first century challenges to our economy and national security,
education systems must be strengthened to increase the foreign language
skills and cultural awareness of students. A wealth of evidence,
however, has documented the shortage of Americans (in both the public
and private sectors) who have relevant foreign language skills and who
are cross-culturally competent.

The Global Scholars (GS) program is a new multidisciplinary,
campus-wide, international studies program designed to help meet the
changing demands brought about by globalization. Those students who
complete the requirements for the Global Scholar designation must
demonstrate proficiency in at least one foreign language, organize their
elective studies to include a substantial number of international
courses, participate in international/global extracurricular activities,
and complete a study or work abroad experience. Faculty members wishing
to attain the designation will have similar requirements.

The GS program is designed to impose no additional courses beyond the
general education requirements; consequently, it does not compete with
majors for curricular space. All students can become Global Scholars.
The program does, however, require that schools across campus think
systematically and strategically about their international course
offerings and overseas programs and how they orient their professional
development activities. Student and faculty participation numbers will
also yield one additional measure of international/global learning.

The proposed Global Scholars project will help strengthen and improve
undergraduate instruction in foreign languages and international studies
by --

1\. Increasing foreign language proficiency through: a) training faculty
in proficiency testing; b) developing and offering proficiency exams in
foreign languages -- including the priority need languages of Arabic,
Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Hindi; and c) offering foreign language
courses and immersion study for faculty members.

2\. Promoting the acquisition of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs)
(i.e., Arabic, Chinese and Hindi) by developing at least four new
courses and/or overseas programs in the target language countries.

3\. Increasing the number of students who acquire proficiency in *two*
foreign languages by creating two new pre-study language courses for
students wishing to study abroad in Brazil (Portuguese for
Spanish-speakers) and Austria (German for non-German speakers).

4\. Developing at least five new international courses and enhancing or
revising at least four current courses to include significant
international components.

5\. Developing at least five new bi-lateral exchanges and at least two
new internship/work abroad programs for approximately 20 students
annually. At least three of the bi-lateral exchanges will be with
universities in countries where LCTLs are spoken.

6\. Supporting at least five faculty exchanges and guest lecturers.

**[WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY]{.underline}**

## "Preparing Teachers of Chinese and Japanese Language and

*Literature: An Interdisciplinary Approach"*

The William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ) will create a
multi-disciplinary Teacher Preparation Program for pre-service and
in-service teacher candidates of Chinese and Japanese languages, culture
and literature by combining courses during the regular academic year
with a Summer Institute in Chinese and Japanese Languages, Literatures,
and Cultures to assist teacher candidates to meet the qualifications for
certification in an intensive and accelerated format. The project will
also support the study and the integration of Asia in the WPUNJ
undergraduate curriculum by making the study of this vital area of the
world more accessible to our student body, the wider community, and the
region.

New Jersey requires all students in grades K-12 to study a world
language. The present proposal addresses that state mandate in light of
the shortage of teachers of Asian languages in New Jersey and the
recommendation from the NJ Department of Education that more language
instruction be provided in \"critical need languages such as Chinese or
other Asian Languages\" since \"there is a great need for individuals
who speak world languages that have been identified as central to global
literacy and are important for future state and national economic,
security, and human needs." Additionally, there is a documented demand
for qualified teachers of Japanese and Chinese on the state list of job
openings for teachers. These echo growing national awareness of the
future economic and political significance of Asia for the generations
we are teaching now.

WPUNJ's College of Humanities and Sciences' inter-disciplinary Asian
Studies Program and the Department of Languages and Cultures will lead
this effort and will include the Departments of History, English, and
Anthropology as well as the College of Education.

#### COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

## "Middle East & North African Studies Enhancement Project"

The purpose of the project is to strengthen the Middle East and North
African (MENA) Option in International Studies and the Arabic program,
both in their early stages. Colorado State University (CSU) wishes to
enhance the status of MENA Studies on our campus to reflect the region's
growing importance in the international arena. As the sole institution
in Colorado with a Middle East and North African Studies Option, CSU is
uniquely positioned to provide the citizens of this state with the
necessary expertise to flourish in a wide range of professions that
require a solid grounding in the history, religions, languages and
cultures of the Middle East and North Africa.

While the infrastructure is now in place, external funding is needed to
fully develop this program to make it relevant and accessible to
students across all disciplines at Colorado State. Project objectives
include the following: 1) Strengthen faculty expertise in MENA Studies
and Arabic; 2) Increase student opportunities to learn about the Middle
East and North Africa and enhance MENA Studies Option with a view toward
transforming the International Studies Concentration into a stand-alone
major; 3) Increase linguistic and cultural competence of students in the
MENA Option and in Foreign Languages & Literatures and strengthen the
Arabic program with the goal of establishing a Minor; 4) Enhance Study
Abroad options in the Middle East and North Africa; 5) Recruit students
to courses in MENA Studies and Arabic from outside the College of
Liberal Arts and when they are Freshmen & Sophomores; 6) Develop an
outreach program for K-12 teachers; and 7) Promote awareness of MENA
Studies and Arabic among all members of the CSU and Fort Collins
community.

Quantitative instruments will be used to determine outcomes of each
specific project component. An external evaluator will assess the
overall success of the project and make recommendations for continued
improvement.

**[WITTENBERG UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

*"Creating Trans- and Interdisciplinary Foreign Language and Cultural
Literacy Options:*

*A New Approach to Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum"*

In recognition of the "global transformations of the last decade" that
led the American Council on Education to issue an impassioned plea for
Americans to acquire a set of "crosscultural skills" that includes
"foreign language proficiency, understanding of other world areas, and
the ability to meet the international challenges of their field,"
Wittenberg University is creating a new interdisciplinary program in
International Studies (INST) with a significant foreign language
component. The INST major will require three years of foreign language
coursework and an international experience, but our foreign language
goals for INST students merely begin there. We expect students to
achieve an advanced, culturally informed ability in a language, so that
they are prepared to use it in substantive ways in the work of the
major, and also gain insight, informed by language, into a culture or
region of the world.

To achieve these ambitious objectives, we will fundamentally alter the
way that foreign language is taught at Wittenberg, through a
comprehensive restructuring of foreign language learning. We will adopt
a "multiple literacies" approach to language instruction and will expand
and embed the meaningful use of languages in INST classes across the
curriculum. In the first year, faculty from foreign languages and other
departments will review best practices in "languages across the
curriculum" initiatives, decide how new and revised courses will be
structured, create lists of texts to be used in those courses, and
engage in a year-long, interdisciplinary reading colloquium to gain
familiarity with the texts and with the concepts, themes, and methods
specific to each of the disciplines represented on the project team. In
the second year, faculty will complete the design of the classes that
will incorporate "language across the curriculum" components.

**[KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY]{.underline}**

## "Building African Studies at Kansas State University"

This proposal aims to build an undergraduate African Studies program
anchored by the teaching of Swahili. Because most American students,
especially those in the Midwest as ours are, still base their
understanding of Africa on scant media portrayals, we will present
unique opportunities for our students to deepen their knowledge through
expanded curriculum and new international connections through African
Studies at Kansas State University (KSU). Moving beyond traditional
African Studies programs, our program, through linkages with biology,
environment, and health, especially human genome projects, will push the
boundaries of technology and its applications to Africa. We thus request
funding to achieve seven specific goals: 1) develop an African studies
curriculum including a certificate option and a minor in African
studies, especially in the Political Economy of Agriculture, the
Environment, and Health; 2) enhance our existing Swahili language
program begun in Fall 2007; 3) implement two study tours to Africa
incorporating the university's Overseas Community Service Initiative by
providing a service-learning component; 4) create new institutional
links with African universities to encourage student exchange; 5)
acquire and disseminate materials from the African Studies Media Center;
and 6) facilitate and support undergraduate intellectual development and
research through a seminar series.

The 30-faculty involved in African Studies at KSU represent an
interdisciplinary group and currently teach diverse courses in
humanities and languages, natural sciences, and social sciences. By
combining these fields with proposed courses in Swahili and other
African languages, we will be well positioned to establish an excellent
undergraduate African studies program to serve our students and the
community at large. We expect to produce benchmark and survey data to
guide the development of new and revised courses on Africa for the
general education curriculum, and for the Certificate and Minor tracks
within the African Studies program. To ensure that new courses are
offered once approved, the Curriculum Development Committee will set
specific criteria for evaluation. Critically important facilities for
the success of this project are in hand. African Studies has already
established a website that represents the program's faculty, courses,
current international opportunities and a working paper series written
by faculty and fully accessible by undergraduate and graduate students.
The African language program will rely on the Language Learning Center,
its resources, and newly acquired materials for the African Studies
Media Center. The Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign
Language Program will allow our African Studies program to take its
place among our already successful Latin America and South Asia
programs, and the newly created East Asian Studies program while it
revitalizes KSU's traditional links with Africa.

**[UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON]{.underline}**

*"Enhancing Middle East Studies"*

The University of Wisconsin-Madison seeks support to strengthen
undergraduate education in Middle East Studies (MES) by expanding the
number of interdisciplinary courses; expanding and strengthening
programs in Arabic and Persian; introducing proficiency testing in
summer and academic year programs; developing new institutional linkages
leading to the development of new study abroad opportunities for our
students (at institutions such as the American University in Beirut, the
American University in Sharjah, or the Yemeni College of Middle East
Studies); and developing faculty capacity.

Our proposed new area courses will help build bridges between the
various departments participating in the Middle East Studies Program
within the College of Letters & Science, as well as with other schools
at the UW-Madison such as the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
(CALS). In addition, we will strengthen our faculty through
opportunities for development of new courses and research proposals, as
well as strengthening our summer immersion program in Persian. We hope
to create a regular course in fourth-year Arabic and ensure the
continuity of our Persian program so that our students can reach
advanced proficiency in Arabic and Persian. By the closure of the grant
we will have created 10 new interdisciplinary courses, created a true
fourth-year Arabic course, institutionalized offerings in Arabic and
Persian, and strengthened our Undergraduate Certificate in Middle East
Studies, allowing our student to acquire the skills necessary to fill
crucial needs in government, business, education, and other fields
dealing with this strategically important region. The project will
accomplish the following objectives:

**A. Curriculum Development**

1\. Strengthen our Undergraduate Certificate by introducing 10 new
interdisciplinary courses.

2\. Augment and strengthen language program through the introduction of
a true fourth-year

level Arabic language course; regularize the offering of an advanced
course in Colloquial Arabic; and institutionalize the offering of three
levels of Persian during the academic year, as well as strengthen the
summer immersion program in Persian language.

3\. Enhance and enrich the curriculum through improved library holdings,
films, and course materials.

4\. Expand study abroad opportunities for our students.

**B. Faculty Development**

1\. Organize a series of speakers for the purpose of faculty development
on the Middle East.

2\. Provide faculty development grants to promote the development of new
courses in or on the region and/or promote new research proposals.

3\. Seek to promote linkages with institutions in the Arab world and
Turkey leading to visits by scholars from the region, hopefully leading
to faculty exchanges.

The importance of the Middle East as a field of study is increasing at a
remarkable pace and an expanded available pool of knowledge about the
languages and cultures of the Middle East, its history, and its present
conditions is widely recognized as in the national interest. The
activities proposed increase expertise among students and faculty on
this strategically important region, filling a need on our campus,
regionally, and nationally.

##### May 16, 2008