The University's efforts to connect to the world finally are paying off.
Duke tied with Columbia University for having the most federal grants under Title VI awarded to international and foreign areas studies centers among private research universities this past July.
The competitive grants, awarded each summer, fund graduate language instruction, research, developing curricula and the hiring of staff and the programming of events.
The awards are bestowed upon universities that demonstrate an advanced level of innovation in their International and area studies programs.
The four-year awards will fund five of Duke's international and foreign areas studies: the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, the Center for International Studies, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies and South Asia Studies. A sixth award was granted to the Center for International Business Education and Research at Fuqua School of Business.
"This says much about the grasp the University has on the concept of broad multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies," said Gilbert W. Merkx, Duke's Vice Provost for International Affairs.
Duke faculty said the University is a unique institution for undergraduate studies because of its international focus.
"Duke certainly has a special place in the realm of international studies opportunities," Merkx said, adding he attributes the distinction to Duke's "[ability] to respond to and acknowledge regional powers, not merely the separate spheres."
Others point to a spirit of innovation available at Duke, made evident by unique undertakings among the six centers.
Edna Andrews, associate professor and chair of the department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies and director of the CSEEES, said she considers Duke a major innovator in language studies.
"We also will be teaching Georgian and Ukrainian this upcoming spring, and we have taught Hungarian in past years," Andrews wrote in an e-mail. "These languages are rarely available in the United States."
Andrews noted the Title VI funds are the major source of funding for graduate fellowships in language programs for what the Department of Education lists as "Less Commonly Taught Languages," including Russian, Polish, Romanian and Turkish.
Merkx said a major focus at Duke this year is the expansion of its base for studies of the Middle East, due to the region's "increasingly economical, political and cultural importance in our daily lives."
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