The Atlanta Global Studies Center, a partnership between Georgia State University and Georgia Tech to foster innovation in international education, has received a federal grant for $1.05 million over the next four years.
The grant renews the local presence of the center, which sits at the intersection of teaching languages, encouraging cultural competency and creating future global leaders, with a particular focus on K-12 education and sustainability. The center took up the mantra of “empowering the region’s global agenda” in its first grant cycle, taking an collaborative, outward-facing approach that positioned it as a resource for educational institutions as well as companies looking to better collaborate with academia.
After bursting onto the state’s international education scene with a $2.5 million Title VI grant, the joint center fostered candid discussions on race in an international context, promoted diversity in K-12 STEM education, bolstered virtual exchange programs and helped Georgia State designate classes for its university-wide Global Scholars Distinction.
The AGSC also incentivized interdisciplinary global-studies research through a collaborative that includes Spelman College, Emory University, the University of Georgia, the University of North Georgia, Agnes Scott College and Kennesaw State University.
“With this renewal in 2022, our shared mission has been resoundingly reaffirmed. The momentum and energy that AGSC has tapped into affords tremendous opportunities for students, faculty, and in the K–12 system,” said Anthony Lemieux, a professor in the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgia State and co-director of the center.
The center stayed active in the community, helping source speakers for the Georgia Council of International Visitors’ annual Great Decisions foreign-policy lecture series and sponsoring the Global Atlanta Authors Amplified series, which highlighted internationally oriented writers in the city. The World Affairs Council of Atlanta, affiliated with the GSU Robinson College of Business, as well as the GSU Center for Urban Language Teaching and Research, or CULTR, also benefited from the center’s partnership.
Georgia Tech and Georgia State will each receive about half of the funding, with $8,000 going to Spelman to “broaden access to global experiences for Spelman students through internationalization of curriculum that embeds virtual exchange and continue growing and supporting instruction in critical languages including Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese,” Dimeji Togunde, vice provost for global education at Spelman, said in a statement.
Representatives from Georgia State and Georgia Tech both noted that the center has become integral to the universities’ strategic planning around international education.
Juan Carlos Rodriguez, who became the co-director on the Georgia Tech side last year, said it “brings together many faculty projects that demonstrate GT’s commitment to global education and innovative ways of engaging with different communities by combining STEM and humanities and social science education.”
Diana Wrenn Rapp, associate director of the center, said Georgia State has seen the same.
“AGSC transforms lives and strengthens the workforce of the future by helping students become global citizens and leaders who think critically about complex and interconnected issues facing the world today,” she said.
Georgia Tech and GSU also make Georgia the only state with two institutions hosting prestigious Centers for International Business Education and Research, or CIBERs.
Learn more about the grant and the center in this news release, or visit https://atlantaglobalstudies.gatech.edu.
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