Mellon Global Asias Initiative


Global Asias Advisory Board, AY2023-2024
Photo by Abnet Shiferaw ’11

The Mellon Foundation funded Global Asias Initiative will take the first steps toward building a permanent Global Asias center or program at UMBC that creates connections across disciplines, institutions, organizations, and communities. The initiative will also deepen the university’s ongoing commitment to fostering place-based, community-engaged work, with a focus on expanding this work to specifically to benefit our Asian American students, faculty, and staff.

The initiative will create a forum for engaging in difficult yet productive intellectual conversations in the fields of Asian American Studies, Asian diaspora studies, and Asian Studies. Our initiative will synergize UMBC’s strength in community-engaged, public-facing scholarship and connection by bringing together faculty, staff, students, and community partners to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional paradigms we have used to direct our study of AA identity and Asian migration.

Applications for Global Asias Course Expansion Grants and Undergraduate Research Fellowships are due May 3, 2024.

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Read more about UMBC’s Minor in Asian American Studies here.