As leaders in the University of Utah's College of Humanities' international programs, we feel it is imperative that we respond to The Salt Lake Tribune 's April 9 news story, "U. humanities dean accused of defamation," which contains inaccurate allegations and personal attacks by a single university professor.
The professor claims that College of Humanities Dean Robert Newman's failure to replace departing Middle East Center faculty, and an erosion of Middle East programs, are putting the center's federal funding at risk. We believe the article marginalizes the many positive accomplishments of the U's international programs, including the Middle East Center.
Since Newman's appointment as dean, we have seen a concerted effort to enhance international focus and accomplishments -- an effort buoyed by President Michael Young's international vision for the university as a whole. The Middle East Center, as a federally funded national resource center, or NRC, has consistently played a central role in this vision. Our plans are to leverage the success of the Middle East program to achieve the same NRC status for our Asia Center and our Latin American Studies Program. The Middle East Center's NRC status has been renewed consistently since its founding in 1960 and we plan to submit a proposal for the Asia Center this year, and one in 2011 for the Latin American Studies Program.
This would put our university in an elite group of universities with not one but three NRCs. To accomplish this ambitious goal requires that the directors overcome traditional area boundaries and work together to address significant global themes like human rights, Islam and gender.
We are also developing new connections to professional disciplines such as business, education, law, social work and public health. As directors, we have been attending meetings and workshops in Washington, D.C., since last fall in order to position ourselves well for federal funding. Although seeking NRC status is highly competitive, we believe our recent initiatives have strengthened our position.
Rather than diminishing the Middle East Center, as stated in the article, recent restructuring efforts have enhanced its scope. The new structure brings the University of Utah more in line with NRC centers at other universities and better addresses federal funding criteria, which focus on teaching capacity and the breadth of that capacity. The number of faculty and instructors affiliated with the Middle East Center has increased by 23 percent over the past two years. More important, this number includes academic disciplines previously absent. Furthermore, the number of students in Middle East courses also has substantially increased, including a 30 percent growth in Arabic.
All of the languages stipulated by the NRC grant continue to be taught and the college plans to renew the search for an additional Arabic professor next year. To further strengthen the Middle East Center, the college hired a new director with years of experience and strong national and international ties.
The college's commitment to international programs under Dean Newman has had tangible outcomes, including: (1) creation of an associate dean position for international programs and funding of new director positions; (2) acquisition of new space for an International Programs Center; (3) establishment of linkages between international programs and the sciences and the professional schools; (4) several internationally focused lecture series; (5) the Confucius Institute; (6) a major Brazilian Studies initiative; (7) an ROTC grant for teaching Arabic, Chinese, Persian and Pashto, among others; (8) a world language master's degree that certifies teachers of Arabic, Chinese, Turkish and others.
These are just the most striking examples of the range and extent of international initiatives in the College of Humanities.
It is unfortunate that a single negative personal perspective highlighted in The Tribune story has overshadowed the significant progress of our international programs. As directors, we intend to continue our positive trajectory toward substantial accomplishment and service to our students and community.
Johanna Watzinger-Tharp is director of the U.'s International Studies Program and Janet Theiss directs the school's Asia Center. Other contributors to the column include directors Rebecca Horn , Latin American Studies, and Bahman Baktiari , Middle East Center; and Department of Languages and Literature co-chairs Fernando Rubio and Jane Hacking .