In late spring 2000, the Asian Studies Center at MSU was declared a Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) by the U.S. Department of Education (US/ED), the only center in the country with a general pan-Asia focus to receive this prestigious designation.

Other MSU centers that successfully participated in this latest nationwide competition were the African Studies Center (ASC), the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), and (as partners on a single grant) the Center for Advanced Study of International Development (CASID) and Women and International Development (WID).

Committed US/ED funding for all of MSU's Title VI centers exceeds $5 million over a three-year period. This includes funding, through separate Title VI programs, for both the Center for International Business Education and Research (MSU-CIBER), housed in the Eli Broad College of Business, and the Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR), housed in the College of Arts and Letters. Both centers are in their second year of three-year awards, MSU-CIBER as a national resource center in international business education, and CLEAR as a language resource center.

The National Resource Centers Program "provides grants to institutions of higher education or consortia of institutions of higher education to establish, strengthen, and operate comprehensive and undergraduate language and area/international studies centers." Funded institutions are expected to function as national resource centers for research, training, instruction, and outreach on issues in world affairs and, more generally, in international studies. The Asian Studies Center will use its NRC funds to expand radically such activities; ASC, CLACS, and CASID/WID have been successful in previous rounds of Title VI NRC competition, and will continue their already extensive array of such activities.

Also included in the $5 million total are funds through the Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Program, which provides support for graduate students. MSU's African Studies Center, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and CASID/WID received support for a total of 26 fellowships for the current year, renewable for two more years.

John Hudzik, dean of International Studies and Programs, views the high level of Title VI funding MSU receives and the number of funded centers as a testament to the strength of our internationally engaged faculty. Referring to President Peter McPherson's frequently voiced commitment that MSU will become a great global university, Hudzik says, "Our Title VI funding level is a strong indicator that we are reaching that goal, and center directors and center core faculty are to be congratulated for their high-quality work."