UNC cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026

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donbosco

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"The Center for European Studies, the African Studies Center, the Carolina Asia Center, the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, the Institute for the Study of the Americas and the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies are all slated to close. These centers are the first of 14 total UNC centers and institutes to be cut. UNC Media Relations wrote in a statement to The Daily Tar Heel that “some programs have been identified to be sunset in 2026,” with additional cuts still to be finalized.

The six area studies centers have operated at UNC since the early '90s and 2000s. UNC's Burton Craige professor of political science Gary Marks co-founded the Center for European Studies in 1994 and served as its director until 2006.

.....

...they are slated for permanent closure following the loss of their Title VI funding, and that the decision came as the North Carolina legislature is engaged in cutting budgets for centers and institutes across the UNC System.

“The recommendation to close these Centers came out of deliberations led by UNC’s CFO, Nate Knuffman,” Lothspeich wrote. “Dean White and Senior Associate Dean Noreen McDonald stressed that the closure process would take time, and many issues are still to be sorted through.”

Changes to centers and institutes were initially projected to save $4.8 million, according to Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman’s presentation at the September Board of Trustees’ Budget, Finance and Infrastructure Committee meeting.

But at the November BOT Budget, Finance and Infrastructure Committee meeting, Knuffman said the University now plans to reduce $7 million in spending over the next several years, with approximately $3 million forecasted in near-term savings.

These increased cuts, he said, would be accomplished through decommissioning 14 centers and institutes total.
.....

Knuffman’s November presentation stated that evaluations included considering a center’s return on investment, how its mission and history align with the chancellor’s priorities, its research, service and instructional outputs, its “metrics of success” and considerations about units with special BOT, legislative or public interest priorities.

“We often know, sometimes, there's a storied history with several of these and we have to be mindful of that when we think about what might be possible here,” he said at the November meeting.

.....

“I think you're talking about literally hundreds of faculty who are going to be affected by this,” Marks said. “The centers are a real core element of the institutional structure of the University. It's like saying, ‘Look, I can't afford to have two hands, so I'm gonna have to cut one off.’”

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We spent more on Belichick than all those programs combined, and I suspect one of the Center employees probably could have coached us to more wins.
I was going to say - I’m sure they will funnel this into football - a strong football program is the true purpose of any large University these days. Alabama is the goal, not a public Ivy.
 
ncst has over 40 centers including:

Lebanese Diaspora Studies
Center for Turfgrass Research and education
Center for Textile Comfort
Center for Pest Management
Center for Animal and Poultry Waste Management
Center for Family and Community Engagement
 
I think what will happen is that a white male will bring a case that will be reminiscent of the 1978 Bakke case which set the stage for the dismantling of Affirmative Action.

Roberts hates the Civil Rights Act. I can see a future where SCOTUS decides a case that strikes down Title VII and leads to the elimination of the EEOC
 
Thankfully, I finished when Gerhard Weinberg was still a younger man and the emphasis wasn't on what to think but on how to think about thinking.
 
Thankfully, I finished when Gerhard Weinberg was still a younger man and the emphasis wasn't on what to think but on how to think about thinking.
" thinking about thinking ? " That sounds like metacognition kinda stuff that requires a capacity for abstract thought. Do we really need profs emphasizing stuff that borders on esoterica and would confuse and intimidate the conservative concrete thinking students in the classroom ?
 
" thinking about thinking ? " That sounds like metacognition kinda stuff that requires a capacity for abstract thought. Do we really need profs emphasizing stuff that borders on esoterica and would confuse and intimidate the conservative concrete thinking students in the classroom ?
we've been post-truth for a while, and it's all the MAGA really understand
 




"Thousands of admitted students and their parents will soon decide whether to accept their offer from UNC. For many, an academically rich semester abroad is an exciting prospect of a Carolina education, which guarantees a global education to every student.

But UNC has announced the elimination of the international area studies centers that organize and oversee learning about Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe/Eurasia. For decades, these centers have served as clearing houses for courses, events and financial resources for students who want to be knowledgeable about the world and study abroad. Parents need to understand that closing the centers will devastate international education at UNC. Knowledgeable travel is safe travel, and hollowing out the academic preparation of the more than 2,500 students who yearly participate in formal study abroad will dangerously impoverish their experiences.

What UNC is missing is that the small and efficient staff at these centers cultivate faculty networks across the University that play an invaluable role in preparing students for impactful, safe study abroad. This staff organizes curriculums to deepen regional knowledge in a way no individual major or department can. In this way, the centers save families countless dollars by making the most of precious credit hours. Eliminating the centers dissolves the faculty networks, information sharing, and student communities that enrich learning and maximize safe travel. Astonishingly, UNC has no plans to replace the lost educational opportunities except to scatter whatever is left of the centers, including scholarships that pay study abroad fees, to random departments where students will struggle to find them.

UNC records show that 43% of Tar Heels participate in formal study abroad. These students didn’t randomly wander into the UNC Study Abroad office and throw a dart at a map. They were led there by their courses, which inspired and prepared them. Global area studies center faculty and staff encouraged them. UNC Study Abroad excels in the logistics of program management. But they work hand and glove with the global studies centers. Without them, UNC will send these students abroad less prepared and remarkably less safe than they presently are.

Only 35% of our students' study abroad programs are UNC-led. Partner universities and third parties make up the rest, but these programs are competitive and value region-specific courses in their admissions. Without the threatened centers to make these easily accessible, our students will be less attractive to these programs, and the most prestigious and safest of these will slip from reach. Families must ask: when the Fall 2026 semester begins, will UNC be the leader in global education that it is today? Will the class of 2030 have the educationally solid study abroad opportunities of UNC students these last many decades?

Chancellor Roberts will not change course if parents do not write him and their legislators to express their concerns. UNC promises parents and students the finest global education. It is breaking that promise now."

Todd Ramón Ochoa, Professor of Religious Studies at UNC
 
From above
What UNC is missing is that the small and efficient staff at these centers cultivate faculty networks across the University that play an invaluable role in preparing students for impactful, safe study abroad. This staff organizes curriculums to deepen regional knowledge in a way no individual major or department can. In this way, the centers save families countless dollars by making the most of precious credit hours. Eliminating the centers dissolves the faculty networks, information sharing, and student communities that enrich learning and maximize safe travel. Astonishingly, UNC has no plans to replace the lost educational opportunities except to scatter whatever is left of the centers, including scholarships that pay study abroad fees, to random departments where students will struggle to find them.

UNC records show that 43% of Tar Heels participate in formal study abroad.
 
Isnt the Civic Whatever thing a giant "center" with faculty supossedly "collaborating" all over campus ?
 
ncst has over 40 centers including:

Lebanese Diaspora Studies
Center for Turfgrass Research and education
Center for Textile Comfort
Center for Pest Management
Center for Animal and Poultry Waste Management
Center for Family and Community Engagement
I don't much about the Center thing today at UNC-CH
A few decades ago I certainly did
Then , a legitimate "angst" was they each had a Chief Administrator-with a Dept Chair type salary Some were not faculty
Obviously that is not the issue today , as shown by the Nclol situation
 
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