2008 Woodie Awards
Middle East studies eyes state grant for expansion
Veronica Schiebold
Issue date: 5/23/07 Section: News
Last Monday, Senators John Kerry and Edward Kennedy announced the Northeastern's Middle East studies program will receive an $85,000 grant from the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language program.
The money will be used to enhance the program by funding new courses, study abroad opportunites and offering a Middle East studies major.
"The Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language program at the Department of Education is a competitive grant program to enhance primarily the international academic program of the institution," said Amy Brundage of Kerry's office
The program is funded by Congress, under the Higher Education Act of 1965. The amount distributed to single institutions ranges from $50,000 to $90,000, Brundage said.
Denis Sullivan, center director of the Middle East studies program, said in the first year the program will receive $85,000, the second year it will receive $90,000 and the third year it can ask for an extension.
The program is one of many within the U.S. Department of Education, Sullivan said, but it is the first time Northeastern has received money from this program.
However, this is not the first time the Middle East studies program has applied for the grant. The program wrote a proposal a few years ago that was rejected, Sullivan said. Only now, after revising the proposal, was it accepted.
Some of the new provisions include strengthening languages within the program, and providing more study abroad opportunities in the Middle East.
Junior Elizabeth Manniel, a political science and international affairs major, with a minor in Middle East studies said the funding will benefit the Northeastern community.
Manniel said the Middle East is an important region that needs to be studied.
"The problems in the Middle East will not simply disappear overnight and it is an issue that my generation is going to need to deal with, hopefully more successfully than the current administration," she said.
The money will be used to enhance the program by funding new courses, study abroad opportunites and offering a Middle East studies major.
"The Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language program at the Department of Education is a competitive grant program to enhance primarily the international academic program of the institution," said Amy Brundage of Kerry's office
The program is funded by Congress, under the Higher Education Act of 1965. The amount distributed to single institutions ranges from $50,000 to $90,000, Brundage said.
Denis Sullivan, center director of the Middle East studies program, said in the first year the program will receive $85,000, the second year it will receive $90,000 and the third year it can ask for an extension.
The program is one of many within the U.S. Department of Education, Sullivan said, but it is the first time Northeastern has received money from this program.
However, this is not the first time the Middle East studies program has applied for the grant. The program wrote a proposal a few years ago that was rejected, Sullivan said. Only now, after revising the proposal, was it accepted.
Some of the new provisions include strengthening languages within the program, and providing more study abroad opportunities in the Middle East.
Junior Elizabeth Manniel, a political science and international affairs major, with a minor in Middle East studies said the funding will benefit the Northeastern community.
Manniel said the Middle East is an important region that needs to be studied.
"The problems in the Middle East will not simply disappear overnight and it is an issue that my generation is going to need to deal with, hopefully more successfully than the current administration," she said.
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