University of Hawai'i University Relations Media & Publications Honolulu, HI 96822	(808) 956-8856 Telephone (808) 956-3441 Facsimile ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
For Immediate Release:	July 6, 1999
Contact: Terence Wesley-Smith 956-2668, Center for Pacific Islands Studies, twsmith@hawaii.edu

Ford Foundation awards UH $350,000 grant for three year project, Remaking Asia/Pacific Studies: Moving Cultures Dean Willa J. Tanabe of the School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies of the University of Hawai'i announced today that the Ford Foundation has awarded the school a grant of $350,000 for its three year project, Remaking Asia/Pacific Studies: Moving Cultures. The aim of the project is to restructure the way in which Asia and the Pacific Islands are perceived and studied in an era of globalization. Two years ago over 200 universities throughout the United States were invited to apply for initial planning grants to begin a review of area studies. The University of Hawai'i was one of 30 to receive that grant of $50,000. Of those thirty, 18 have now been selected to lead the nation in a re-evaluation and restructuring of how area studies is conceived and practiced. Of the 18, only the University of Hawai'i will investigate Asia and the Pacific Islands. Project Director Dr. Terence Wesley-Smith says that collaboration with regional educational institutions, including those from Fiji, the Philippines, Palau, and New Zealand, will be a key component of the project. New communications technologies will be used to establish multi-sited virtual classrooms that connect faculty and students at UH to their counterparts at these regional institutions. The Moving Cultures project has been developed in collaboration with the East-West Center and Kapiolani Community College.

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