The University will establish an International Institute to serve as “a campuswide resource, providing coordination and leadership in a broad range of activities concerning international and area studies.”
Approved by the Regents at their September meeting, the Institute will be located within LS&A.
The Institute will “enhance dramatically a tradition of scholarship and teaching in foreign area and international studies that has long brought distinction to the University,” said LS&A Dean Edie N. Goldenberg. “Given the major changes on the international scene in recent years, this is a particularly propitious time for fresh thinking about the University’s efforts in international studies and for putting in place new structures to ensure Michigan’s leading role in these areas among the world’s universities.
“The Institute will also serve as a locus for external fundraising to support research and teaching,” Goldenberg noted, “and it will play a key role in establishing relationships with universities abroad and in coordinating the activities of international visitors to the University. The Institute is a key step in the implementation of President James J. Duderstadt’s international initiative.”
The Institute will assemble, within a single administrative framework, a number of centers and programs within LS&A.
“One of the primary missions of the Institute will be to develop and strengthen the ties between LS&A and the other schools and colleges in the University in international and area studies,” Goldenberg said. “A key ingredient will be a series of tenure-track faculty appointments that will bridge departments in LS&A, units within the Institute, and professional schools. These appointments will support new research and teaching initiatives and will build stronger links between academic and professional programs.”
