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FOR RELEASE
Asia Center Receives Freeman Foundation Grant
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 4, 2008) − The Asia Center, an interdisciplinary group of faculty and staff at the University of Kentucky, recently received a prestigious grant from the Freeman Foundation’s Undergraduate Asian Studies Initiative. The $300,000 grant, for a 3-year project extending into 2011, will fund new faculty in China Studies, provide scholarships for education abroad programs in Asia and foster the development of an annual Asian arts festival.
As more and more high schools in Kentucky incorporate Asian languages and cultures into their curricula, the Freeman grant will allow students who choose UK to continue those pursuits. Beginning in 2009, the university will add two new tenure track faculty positions, one in Chinese history in the Department of History and one in Chinese language and culture in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Thus, students will be able to extend their Chinese language and culture studies beyond the usual fourth year level, and the necessary resources will be available for a China Studies major.
“There has been a national emphasis on ‘critical languages,’ defined as those languages for which more trained speakers are needed than are available, and Chinese is one of those languages,” said Assistant Provost for International Programs Susan Carvalho. “This infusion of faculty in Chinese will promote the study of all Asian languages and cultures, contribute to our active co-curriculum in Asia Studies and, in general, will enhance the opportunities available to our students.”
The grant will also provide $28,000 in education abroad scholarships in 2009, and the Asia Center will build on this investment through aggressive development efforts. Although the details of the scholarship program are not yet confirmed, the Asia Center anticipates that the funds will be available beginning in summer 2009 and will most likely be used to offset costs for students who elect to study in an Asian country for a semester or more.
To raise awareness of the ever-growing importance of Asian culture across campus and within the Lexington community, the Asia Center plans to host an annual Asian arts festival beginning in fall 2009.
“This significant investment from the Freeman Foundation not only underscores the efforts of our Asia Center faculty and staff in garnering external support, and the confidence of the Freeman Foundation in our ability to reach our international goals, but it also accelerates significantly our pace toward meeting those goals," said Carvalho.
The Asia Center, which was founded in 2002, credits much of its initial success to a Freeman Foundation Undergraduate Asian Studies Initiative grant received that year.
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