Editor: Keith Davis Writers: Dave Maley Publisher: Office of Public Information Volume 22, No.18  July 10, 2000

Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity to Be Supported by a $400,000 Anonymous Gift Ithaca College president Peggy R. Williams announced that an anonymous gift of $400,000 will support the College’s recently established Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity for the next three years. The center serves as a multidisciplinary clearinghouse for studying the experiences of groups that traditionally have been marginalized, underrepre-sented, or misrepresented in the United States as well as in college curricula. "Today’s students live in a multiethnic, multicultural world that abounds with all kinds of racial and political messages," says Williams. "The generous assistance of this gift will aid the center as it helps create a stronger campus community while at the same time preparing our students for citizenship in the world at large." Williams also announced that the Ithaca College Board of Trustees has demonstrated its support for the center by setting aside an endowment fund of $1 million to help sustain the center’s operation. Over three years, the $400,000 gift will contribute to workshops and seminars for faculty and students, arts events on ethnic traditions, and the creation of new courses on ethnicity around the world as well as on African American, U.S. Latino/Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American heritages. "The new courses to be developed will help fill a serious gap in our curriculum," says Jim Malek, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "The Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity will lead the way in shaping how these topics are best studied, bringing together many disciplines and comparative perspectives. I am very proud of the work our planning group, led by assistant provost Tanya Saunders and associate professor of politics Asma Barlas, has done in developing a model that serves many constituencies and responds to a wide variety of interests." Barlas, who is chair of the Department of Politics, is serving as the interim director of the center. A national search for a permanent director will begin shortly. As its first project, the center last year sponsored the Discussion Series on Islam and two film screenings as part of the Cinema on the Edge series. "The generous assistance of this gift will . . . create a stronger campus community." — Peggy R. Williams

ITHACA | Back Issues | Table of Contents | NEWS Home | Publication Schedule | Letter to the Editor Created by Andrejs Ozolins. Updated 11.July. 2000