The U.S. Education Department has awarded a $2.25 million grant to Georgia State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology jointly for an Atlanta Global Studies Center.
The center is to focus on research and instruction for student populations underrepresented in international and advanced language studies. It is to provide specialized instruction in international education and less commonly taught languages such as Arabic, Korean, Portuguese and Hindi.
It also will offer Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students. Prospective fellows must enroll in language programs and are to receive full-tuition waivers and stipends.
G.P. “Bud” Peterson said in a statement that the center will seek to fulfill the growing needs of the state’s workforce with bilingual and dual-immersion education.
The center is to engage students from throughout Atlanta in a wide variety of studies including science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Community college students and minority, first-generation and low-income students are to be recruited for careers in business, education, security and defense, and public and governmental sectors.
Risa Palm, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Georgia State, said that the center is “to provide more opportunities for students from underrepresented backgrounds in the region to gain this vital knowledge that is critical for their future success, and for our region and nation.”
The proposal was headed by Anna Westerstahl Stenport, chair of the Georgia Tech School of Modern Languages. According to Dr. Stenport, the center is to encompass curriculum enhancement, faculty professional developments, public events, conferences, language instruction and kindergarten through 12th grade and community outreach.
“Our mission to enhance access to advanced language learning and deepen knowledge of global and intercultural issues for the benefit of Atlanta region students, faculty and the public,” she added in a press release.
“This will be facilitated through robust collaborations in research and instruction with Atlanta universities and with international organizations , consulates, refugee organizations and institutions of public service and higher education in the Southeast and nationally.”
The center is to be housed in the Global Studies Institute in Georgia State’s College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Modern Languages in the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
For more information, contact Anna Stenport at aws@gatech.edu
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