Academic Programs Catalog

Other Departments and Offices for Research and Services

International Studies and Programs

Steven D. Hanson, Vice Provost and Dean

Michigan State University (MSU) conducts education, research, and outreach and engagement on the East Lansing campus and in countries all over the world. The university’s international work is coordinated and facilitated by the Office of International Studies and Programs (ISP). The wide array of activities and programs gives students, faculty and staff at MSU many ways to explore global issues and gain global experience and knowledge. Faculty members in virtually every discipline conduct international research to enhance MSU’s courses.

ISP has geographic and thematic units located at the East Lansing campus. They include the African Studies Center, Asian Studies Center, Canadian Studies Center, Global Center for Food Systems Innovation, Center for Gender in Global Context, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. Through its colleges, MSU offers area-specific focuses in African Studies, Asian Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Russian and East European Studies, Western European Studies, and Muslim Studies. Three of these centers are designated as national resource and language resource centers through the U.S. Department of Education Title VI program.

The Global Youth Advancement Network (GYAN) supports global citizenship education for faculty, staff, and students and promotes opportunities for international communication, collaboration and careers.

ISP’s centers coordinate their activities with all of MSU’s colleges. Along with the thematic and geographic units, MSU is also home to the Center for International Business Education and Research, the National LCTL Resource Center, the Institute of Global Health, and the Office of International Studies in Education.

MSU’s study abroad programs are managed by ISP. Its Office of Education Abroad coordinates more than 275 MSU programs in over 60 countries worldwide. They range from English literature in London, to natural resources in Brazil, to education in South Africa, to Antarctic system science in Antarctica and Argentina. The Office for Global, Health, Safety, and Security, also under ISP, supports the health, safety, and security of all MSU international travelers.

ISP also administers the Japan Center for Michigan Universities on behalf of a consortium of 15 Michigan public universities. The center’s programs build relationships among Japanese, American and other nationalities through internships and active learning and participation in language and culture.
ISP oversees the Office for International Students and Scholars, which serves approximately 1,200 visiting international scholars and more than 6,500 international students annually on campus. ISP facilitates partnerships, joint research, and development programs between MSU and a variety of international academic institutions, governments, private foundations, and the World Bank, and currently maintains about 280 collaborative agreements worldwide.

The Global Innovations in Development, Engagement, and Scholarship (Global IDEAS) was established at ISP to assist faculty with grant proposals for international projects. The office also helps connect faculty with other funding sources and potential collaborators: partners abroad, at development firms, at other universities, and across disciplines.

For more information, call 1-517-355-2350, email infonew@isp.msu.edu or visit www.isp.msu.edu.

African Studies Center

Jamie Monson, Director

Founded in 1960, the African Studies Center promotes understanding of Africa on campus, in the State of Michigan, and throughout the nation. It’s one of the most prominent centers for the study of Africa in the nation with 150 associated MSU faculty in 54 departments. The center encourages teaching and research concerning Africa and partnerships with Africans and African institutions. The center does not award degrees; rather, it generates and promotes Africa-related perspectives through undergraduate and graduate teaching programs and through interdisciplinary programs.

Fellowships are awarded by the Center for African Language and Area Studies in departments with African studies faculty. The faculty represent the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Arts and Letters, College of Communication Arts and Sciences, College of Education, College of Human Medicine, College of Music, College of Natural Science, College of Nursing, College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Social Science, and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

An undergraduate minor in African Studies and a Global and Area Studies major are available for interested students. For additional information, refer to the College of Social Science section of this catalog. More than 20 study programs in Africa are available for shorter periods and semesters.

The Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages currently offers courses in Arabic, Hausa, and Swahili. By special arrangement, instruction is available in 30 African languages including Acholi, Aka/Twi, Amharic, Babara/Dyula/Mandingo, Bemba, Fula (Fulfulde, Pulaar), Igbo, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Kpelle, Krio, Lingala, Luganda, Malagasay, Mende, Nyanja/Chichewa, Oromo, Sesotho, Shona, Somali, Temne, Tigrinya, West African Pidgin, Wolof, Xhosa/Zulu, and Yoruba.

The center administers an Outreach Program including the African Media Program which evaluates instructional materials about Africa and brings Africa-related materials into schools, colleges and universities, adult education programs, youth groups, community institutions, businesses, and the media.

For more detailed information, call 1-517-353-1700, email africa@msu.edu, or visit http://africa.isp.msu.edu/

Asian Studies Center

Siddharth Chandra, Director

The Asian Studies Center was established in 1962 to further knowledge and understanding of the countries of Asia, with a concentration on East Asia. In 2000, the center became the nation’s first all-Asia National Undergraduate Resource Center, expanding the center’s focus to include regions as diverse as Central and Southeast Asia.

The center’s primary function is to enrich education in the social sciences, humanities, and professional school training through Asia-centered curricular, extra-curricular, and outreach activities. The center’s programming is designed to educate people who wish to become area specialists, and integrate knowledge of Asia into their disciplinary studies. It also strengthens undergraduate and graduate academic programs, stimulates research and publications, and aids in partnerships with Asian institutions.

The center coordinates Asian Studies offerings within the various disciplines on campus. The Asian Studies Center does not award degrees; students are enrolled in participating colleges and departments. An undergraduate degree program in East Asian Languages and Cultures, an Asian concentration in the Bachelor of Arts degree in Global and Area Studies, and a Minor in Asian Studies are available. For additional information on degree programs, refer to the College of Social Science and the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages in the College of Arts and Letters sections of this catalog.

Asian languages taught in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic Slavic, Asian and African Languages include Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Nepali, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Thai, Korean, and others. Other academic units offering courses on Asia include Agricultural Economics, Anthropology, Art, Art History, and Design, Economics, Geography, History, James Madison, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, and Sociology. Interdisciplinary courses on Asia are also offered at the undergraduate level. Graduate students may receive funding through the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) grant program for advanced Asian language study in furtherance of their programs of study.

The center brings distinguished scholars as visiting professors to the campus in cooperation with interested departments, invites other specialists to the campus for lectures or seminars. The center also arranges special institutes on research and teaching and secures research support for faculty and graduate students. It houses several Asian country councils and various undergraduate and graduate student academic award programs.

For more information, call 1-517-353-1680, email asiansc@msu.edu, or visit http://asia.isp.msu.edu/.

Canadian Studies Center

Rebecca Malouin, Director

The Canadian Studies Center is a multidisciplinary unit with over 70 faculty and graduate students representing over 30 departments, the Libraries, and the Michigan State University Museum. The center’s mission is derived from MSU’s land-grant ethic of teaching, research, and outreach. Since its inception in 1958 as a faculty interest group, the Canadian Studies Center has become a major generator of scholarship related to Canada in the United States. MSU faculty offer a broad array of courses, both undergraduate and graduate, and are involved in diverse research and outreach activities focusing on Canada and its relations with the United States, Latin America, the Pacific Basin, and Europe.

In partnership with the Canada-U.S. Fulbright program, the center hosts an annual senior Canadian Visiting Scholar and regularly arranges visits to campus of distinguished Canadian scholars, government personnel, and artists who lecture in courses, conduct seminars and colloquia, and consult with students and faculty. The annual CN Forum on Canada-U.S. Relations provides an opportunity for students and government and business leaders from Michigan and Ontario to meet with national leaders as conferences, film series, and art exhibits are presented.

The center supports the Freshman Seminar Abroad in Quebec City and seeks to make resources available to Michigan public schools and programs. In addition, center faculty consult with the private and public sector on issues affecting Canada and maintain inter-institutional relationships with Canadian universities. The MSU Libraries rank among the top ten U.S. libraries in its support of Canadian Studies programs, and the MSU Press is a major U.S. publisher of scholarly books and monographs on Canada.

For more information, call 1-517-353-9349, email csc@msu.edu, or visit www.canadianstudies.isp.msu.edu.

Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies

Volodymyr Tarabara, Director

Michigan State University offers hundreds of undergraduate and graduate courses relating to Europe, Eurasia, and the former Soviet Union. The Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies facilitates teaching, research, and outreach activities relating to these areas. There are two undergraduate minors directly associated with the Center: the European Studies minor and the Russian and Eurasian Studies minor. MSU faculty direct study abroad programs in 25 countries in the region including Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

The center coordinates visiting speakers, film series, conferences and workshops of interest to students, faculty, and the surrounding community. Numerous opportunities for study in Europe and Eurasia are available, with support from the center’s 70 core faculty and numerous partnerships with universities throughout Europe and Eurasia. The center also serves as a resource for elementary and secondary schools as well as for civic organizations and groups throughout the state.

For information about the minor in Russian and Eurasian Studies, refer to the College of Arts and Letters section of this catalog. For information about the minor in European Studies, refer to the James Madison College section of this catalog.

For additional information, call 1-517-355-3277, email ceres@msu.edu, or visit ceres@isp.msu.edu.

Center for Global Innovations in Development, Engagement, and Scholarship (Global IDEAS)

Allan Hruska, Director

Global Innovations in Development, Engagement, and Scholarship (Global IDEAS) catalyzes interdisciplinary thought, research, and action to solve global challenges in an international development context. We facilitate communities of practice; build partnerships and community, identify opportunities for faculty and staff to develop proposals, and provide a suite of services in proposal development and program implementation that includes effective and timely management of project start-up. 

Global IDEAS offers services to MSU faculty and researchers interested in engaging in international development. Via the Community of Practice on Global Development, we bring together MSU colleagues into conversations with important stakeholders on campus, across the country, and around the globe. These sessions deepen and broaden the contacts, networks, and discussions of challenges and potential opportunities to engage directly in their mitigation. 

Global IDEAS provides ongoing tools and services to faculty members to identify research team members and funding opportunities. This includes a weekly funding newsletter, an online database of funding opportunities, and a database of over 1300 MSU faculty and researchers engaged in international work. Our team also manages and uses the International Data Portal that provides public-facing information about MSU’s international engagement and helps to build new partnerships.

Global IDEAS supports and coordinates larger international development proposals. We provide a suite of services in proposal development, including partner negotiation, budget preparation and routing, timeline and task identification and agreements, proposal review and evaluation, packaging and submission. We also support project start-up, especially during the first six-month period.

We work with partners around the world in the context of our Equitable Partnership policy. Global IDEAS supports teams of researchers and innovators and MSU leadership to strategically build our global community and deepen our global impact within the framework of MSU strategic plan.


 

Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Laurie Medina, Director

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) supports scholarship on Latin America and the Caribbean by catalyzing interdisciplinary collaborations on campus and forging partnerships with institutions in the region. The center identifies emerging opportunities for research, educational exchanges, and engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean and serves as an information hub for faculty and students with interests in the region. 

The CLACS Core Faculty consists of more than 150 tenure-stream and non-tenure-stream faculty and staff actively engaged in teaching, research, service, and librarianship on Latin America and the Caribbean. Representing 65 departments and programs across 16 MSU colleges, core faculty members offer a broad range of courses that focus on the region, covering languages and literatures, histories and politics, ecologies and economic development trajectories. CLACS collaborates with faculty to organize co-curricular events to support and enhance their Latin American and Caribbean content courses. To support faculty research, the center offers Strategic Partnership Funding for collaborations with international partners at institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

MSU offers academic and extracurricular opportunities for students interested in Latin America and the Caribbean. For undergraduates, MSU offers an interdisciplinary major in Global and International Studies with a track in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as an interdisciplinary minor in Latin American and Caribbean Studies that can be combined with any major. The center provides scholarships for undergraduate students to pursue study abroad, internships, or research opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. At the graduate level, CLACS offers a certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies that can be combined with majors in any academic discipline. It also offers funding to support pre-dissertation research in the region for graduate students. In addition, CLACS collaborates with organizations that represent students from the region to create programs and events that address their priorities.

As part of the land grant tradition, CLACS also provides expertise and educational resources related to Latin America and the Caribbean to K-16 educators, the mid-Michigan community, businesses, and government.

For more information, email clacs@msu.edu, call 1-517-353-1690, or visit https://clacs.isp.msu.edu/.

Office for International Students and Scholars

Krista McCallum Beatty, Director

The Office for International Students and Scholars, or OISS, provides services and support to Michigan State University’s international students, scholars, employees and families who study, conduct research, and teach at MSU. These services include advising on immigration regulations, health insurance and health care, student success and well-being, financial needs, and other personal concerns in order to support successful experiences on campus and in the community. OISS creates engagement opportunities designed to help students and scholars build a sense of belonging in the U.S. and at MSU, and contribute to the internationalization of the campus and surrounding communities. Engagement opportunities include orientation, cultural events, workshops on intercultural communication, and ways for campus and community members to get involved in creating a welcoming community through volunteering. OISS is MSU’s primary information resource on issues related to international students and scholars, collaborating with administrative offices, academic colleges, departments, and schools, student affairs and the local community. The office also acts as a liaison with national and international organizations and agencies to best serve MSU international students and scholars.

For more information, call 1-517-353-1720, email oiss@msu.edu, or visit www.oiss.isp.msu.edu.


Office of Education Abroad

A key component of excellence in higher education today, study abroad is an integral part of the student experience, especially at MSU where one in four seniors have studied abroad by the time they graduate. Participating in MSU’s nationally-recognized study abroad program helps its students prepare for our global society – gaining the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will prepare them for the challenges of living and working in a globalized world. With over 275 study abroad programs including every continent, students have access to study, intern, and research in more than 60 countries. A wide variety of courses abroad are available including Integrative Studies, required electives, and major-specific courses. Programs take place during every semester including winter and spring breaks, which, in combination with the diverse course selection and the variety of locations makes it possible for all majors to participate. Additionally, MSU offers a freshman seminars abroad that provide recently-graduated first-year students the opportunity to explore learning outside of the U.S. before their first semester on campus.

The Office of Education Abroad also administers the American Semester program, which allows students from MSU’s international partner universities to study at MSU for a semester or two and transfer credits to their home institution.

Students are encouraged to explore study abroad opportunities as early as the summer before their freshman year. For additional information, see the Guest Status at Another Institution in the Undergraduate Education section of this catalog.

For more information, visit the Study Abroad Advising Center in room 108 of the International Center, call 1-517-353-8920, email studyabroad@isp.msu.edu, or visit www.educationabroad.isp.msu.edu.


 

Center for Gender in Global Context

The Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen) in International Studies and Programs (ISP) draws together the strengths of the program in Women, Gender, and Social Justice in the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Science and the Gender, Development and Globalization Program in ISP. These programs have historically looked at gender in the U.S. and in international contexts. The center emphasizes women and gender in a global context, with distinctive new programs promoting teaching, research, and outreach relevant to 21st century concerns.

Working in conjunction with the academic colleges, the center promotes outstanding undergraduate and graduate education, facilitates research and scholarship of the highest caliber, and conducts innovative outreach and active learning. The center also works with colleges and departments to provide students with academic and active learning opportunities focused on gender and global change through gender-related degrees, specializations, and minors.

GenCen is recognized as a National Resource Center by the U.S. Department of Education Title VI program. The center publishes Gendered Perspectives on International Development (GPID) Working Papers and Resource Bulletin, publications featuring scholarly work and the most recent set of resources in international gender and development studies and issues.

Through its grant-writing services, GenCen promotes interdisciplinary, gender-focused faculty research. The center also sponsors speakers’ series, colloquia and other events during the year.

For more information, call 1-517-353-5040, email gencen@msu.edu or visit http://gencen.isp.msu.edu/.