EAST LANSING, Mich. With the only African and all-Asia studies centers in Michigan, Michigan State University joins the nation in recognizing the importance of Title VI programs to bolster language education and increase global competency during the last 50 years. MSU will host the Title VI 50th Anniversary Conference March 19-21 in Washington, D.C. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright will give the keynote address. Presentations from 64 universities and colleges will be used to discuss how Title VI programs have evolved in response to changing economic, political, environmental and other security-related issues.

Title VI of the Higher Education Act funds 10 domestic programs that provide a variety of grants to higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations and individuals for projects in foreign languages, area or international studies and international business.

As the first major U.S. university to appoint a dean of international programs in 1956, MSU understands the importance of Title VI programs to provide language and area training, research and outreach, said Jeffrey Riedinger, dean of MSUs International Studies and Programs.

MSU also houses the states only language resource center and the only Center for Advanced Study of International Development.

In 2006, MSUs Title VI centers were awarded several four-year grants totaling $8.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education. The university uses these funds to operate its five title VI-funded centers: African Studies Center, Asian Studies Center, Center for Advanced Study of International Development with Women and International Development Program, Center for International Business Education and Research and Center for Language Education and Research (language resource center).

Through the centers, MSU offers courses in less commonly taught and in-high-demand languages such as Hindi, Persian, Turkish and Indonesian.

In February, MSUs National Resource Centers, in conjunction with the School of Journalism and the Muslim Studies Program, received an $88,000 Social Science Research Council grant to create IMAJE: Islam, Muslims and Journalism Education.

The next round of Title VI funding will be completed in 2010, at which time MSU hopes to house two new Title VI centers.

As an institution that has advanced its international educational programs through Title VI funding, we are pleased to convene this national conference on behalf of our peers, who are training the next generation of U.S. experts for diplomatic corps, business, journalism, education, and research, Riedinger said.

The conference organizers are Robert Glew, director of MSUs Center for Advanced Study of International Development, and Tomas Hult, director of MSU's Center for International Business Education and Research also known as CIBER.

To learn more about the Title VI 50th Anniversary Conference, visit http://titlevi50th.msu.edu. To learn more about MSUs Title VI centers, and to watch videos of Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellows and teachers who use Title VI funding, visit International Studies and Programs at http://www.isp.msu.edu/funding/titlesix.htm. Additional information on Title VI and Fulbright Hays programs may be found at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/iegps/index.html.

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