US DOD: Department of Defense Announces the ROTC Language and Culture
Project
From: M2
Date: 5/9/2007
The Department of Defense announced today the
award of four grants totaling $2 million to Indiana University, San Diego State
University, the University of Mississippi and the University of Texas at Austin
as part of the new Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Language and Culture
Project.
"The department's goal is to expose ROTC cadets
and midshipmen to the study of languages and cultures of the world critical to
national security," said David S.C. Chu, under secretary of defense for
personnel and readiness. "Through this innovative effort we hope ROTC cadets and
midshipmen will have the opportunity to learn a foreign language which will
prepare them for future duties as commissioned officers."
Aspart of this project, Indiana Universitywill
offer scholarships for study at their prestigious summer institute in languages
including: Arabic, Russian, Azeri, Kazakh, Pashto, Tajik, Turkmen, Uyghur and
Uzbek.San Diego StateUniversity plans to re-shape their military science minor
while drawing on the resources of the community around them to teach different
dialects of Arabic as well as Farsi and Russian. TheUniversity of Mississippi
will offer opportunites for study of Chinese including summers of study abroad.
The University of Texas at Austin will invest in material and curriculum to
expand their programs in Arabic and Farsi.
While the scope and approaches of the projects
differ, additional components include study abroad opportunities and
scholarships, distance learning and other technology, and additional tutoring
and mentoring.The project's aim is to increase cadet exposure to and study of
critical languages as well as to enhance language proficiency and cultural
awareness and expertise.
The ROTC project is overseen for DoD by the
National Security Education Program (NSEP), which has a distinguished track
record in partnering with U.S. higher education to enhance opportunities for
students to learn critical languages.NSEP oversees the National Flagship
Language Program and all participants in the ROTC effort will have access to
curriculum and best practices from flagship universities.
Source:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1Y1-106128990.html
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