ACMS Receives Grant to Open Office in Mongolia
June 1, 2003
The US Department of Education recently announced that the American Center for
Mongolian Studies (ACMS) was one of 12 American Overseas Research Centers selected
to receive Fulbright-Hays Title VI funding for the period 2003-2007. This funding
will allow the development of a permanent office and library in Ulaanbaatar to
support academic research in Inner Asia, including Mongolia and the border regions
of China, Russia and Central Asia. The office will open in spring 2004, and will
include a resident international director and a local staff. Advertisement of
the resident director's position will occur in fall 2003. For more information
on the ACMS, please visit the website http://www.mongoliacenter.org/.
To honor the development of the American Center for Mongolian Studies, the Embassy
of Mongolia in Washington, DC will host a reception on Tuesday July 1, 2003 from
6:00-8:00pm at the Embassy, 2833 M Street NW. All are welcome to attend the reception,
which will feature Mongolian food and drink. ACMS Director Charles Krusekopf will
discuss plans for the development of the office and library in Ulaanbaatar. The
reception is co-hosted by the Embassy, the North America-Mongolia Business Council
(NAMBC) and the ACMS. For more information on the reception and ACMS, please contact
Charles Krusekopf at mailto:[email protected].
The ACMS office and library in Mongolia will be designed along the lines of existing
American Overseas Research Centers, with the goal of facilitating academic research
projects in Mongolia. (For more information on American Overseas Research Centers
visit http://www.caorc.org/.) The office staff will be available to help individual
scholars and research teams working in Mongolia with logistical support, local
research, networking with Mongolian institutions and scholars, and assistance
with permits and approvals. The ACMS office will host regular presentations by
visiting and Mongolian academics, and will be able to facilitate the organization
of conferences and seminars. The library will provide a special resource of material
for use by local and visiting scholars. It will also work to catalog scholarly
resources available in the country and make these resources available to researchers.
In developing its Ulaanbaatar office and programs, the ACMS is working with its
members, the Mongolian Government, the US Embassy, Mongolian academic institutions
and international organizations. The ACMS is working to secure additional funding
for scholarship in Inner Asia. The ACMS recently received an Association of Asian
Studies (AAS) China and Inner Asia Council (CIAC) Small Grant funded by the Chiang
Ching-kuo Foundation. This grant will support the development of the ACMS newsletter
and website. Additional support is being sought from government agencies and foundations
to facilitate fellowships for field research and the program activities of the
ACMS.
The ACMS enjoyed rapid progress in its first year of development. The ACMS attracted
15 institutions, four corporations and over 50 individuals as charter members.
The ACMS held its first annual meeting in New York City in April 2003 in conjunction
with the Association of Asian Studies and Mongolia Society annual meetings. Over
50 individuals from a range of academic institutions participated in the meeting
and a sponsored panel on journalism in post-Soviet Mongolia. In the past year,
the ACMS established an office at Austin College in Texas, received 501 (c) 3
tax-exempt status, and moved forward with administrative tasks. A Board of Directors,
consisting of representatives from member institutions and elected at-large representatives,
will be organized in 2003. All members will be eligible to nominate and elect
at-large members of the Board.
The next annual meeting will be held in San Diego in conjunction with the AAS
meetings in March 2004. Additional information and a call for papers for this
meeting is available on the ACMS website http://www.mongoliacenter.org/.
This message was posted via the American Center for Mongolian Studies list-serv.
For more information on the ACMS, or to post a message to this list-serv, please
contact Charles Krusekopf at <[email protected]>. Top