FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, May 18, 2006

Syracuse University South Asia Center Awarded $1.9 Million Federal Grant

The South Asia Center (SAC) at Syracuse University, in consortium with Cornell University's South Asia Program (SAP), was awarded a $1.936 million dollar grant under the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship program administered by the Department of Education, for academic years 2006-2010. SAC, directed by Professor of Anthropology and Religion Ann G. Gold, is a U.S. Department of Education-designated National Resource Center housed in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School.

SAC has been working to inform and educate the community through numerous courses, research activities, libraries, exhibitions, language learning resources, student organizations and exchange programs at Syracuse University since 1984. As the longest established international program located at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School, SAC provides an invaluable resource to study diverse cultures, economies, and political systems of South Asia. It especially works to support high school teachers in the region to enrich their teaching about the region in their social studies and art classes through a video lending library with a collection of over 150 films and documentaries, teaching kits and speakers bureau.

The FLAS program provides tuition and a generous stipend for SU graduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents to undertake intensive language training and area studies that complement their program of study. Students may study any of the following languages offered at SU: Bengali, Hindi, Nepali, Sinhala, Tamil and Urdu. FLAS awards are open to SU graduate students in any program with interest in the dynamic region of South Asia. Summer fellowships at the intermediate level or above are tenable in South Asia at approved language programs.

This grant will fund the continuation of both SAC summer and academic-year FLAS awards at SU. Four summer fellowships will be offered annually, as well as seven academic-year fellowships. Applications for summer awards are typically due in February; applications for academic-year awards in March. For more information about SAC or the FLAS program, visit www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/programs/sac.