ATHENS, Ohio -- A U.S. Department of Education grant totaling $1.6 million over a three-year period will allow Ohio University's African Studies program to continue outreach and education efforts across the state through programs for teachers, students and residents. The grant designates the program as a National Resource Center for African Studies.

The proposal, "Leadership in African Studies: Towards the Health of Our Field and its Disciplines," features three new African health-related faculty positions and the development for new language materials that focus on Islamic Africa. Grant funds will also increase the capacity of the University's African Studies program to be a center for the study of African Health through the development of new courses and conferences.

African Studies Director Stephen Howard pointed to the collaboration of several departments and colleges as one of the contributing factors in the success of the National Resource Center proposal. "This is a remarkable opportunity to increase Group I faculty positions focusing on the study of African issues," said Howard. New positions will be created for African Community Health in the School of Health Sciences, African Communication and Development in the School of Telecommunications and African Medical Geography in the Department of Geography.

"This award goes only to programs the U.S. Department of Education considers the strongest in the nation, so it's like a seal of approval from the federal government to receive this status," said Josep Rota, Associate Provost for International Programs at Ohio University.

Other federally-funded National Resource Centers for African Studies include the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, Indiana University, Michigan State University and Yale University. Ohio University's African Studies program has been designated as a National Resource Center since 1994.

The mission of the African Studies program is to provide students, scholars and community members opportunities to connect with African cultures through language, education and research. "Having a National Resource Center for African Studies on our campus has helped us improve the teaching and research capacity at Ohio University," Howard said. He added that Ohio University's African Studies Program has developed a niche for itself by creating the Institute for the African Child, which promotes research, teaching, and service that focus on African children.

The African Studies program also received U.S. Department of Education funding for Foreign Language and Area Studies student fellowships for graduate study. African Studies will receive funding to support up to 10 students demonstrating superb academic achievement and a commitment to the study of African languages and area studies. With the Department of Education grant funding, the university will expand African language offerings to include Sudanese Arabic and Twi in addition to Gikuyu, Siswati, Somali, Sudanese, Swahili and Twi.