In June we were busy putting the final touches on our application to the US Department of Education for Title VI and National Resource Center funding for the next four years. In August came the welcome news that REEI’s application was successful! This Department of Education funding, which REEI has received without interruption since 1958, will allow us to support students with Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships; to initiate a host of outreach activities on the Russian and East European Region to K-12 teachers and other constituencies; and to launch an exciting menu of programmatic activities to deepen knowledge about REE issues at IU, in Indiana, and around the world. Just a few of these new Title VI supported initiatives include the following:

A new lecture series, “The Americanists,” which will highlight the rich tradition of American Studies in Russia and the former Soviet Union;

The creation of a specialized Indiana Russia and Eastern Europe Network (IREEN) to facilitate teaching/research collaboration and curriculum development in REE studies at Indiana’s 14 public institutions of higher education, four of which are minority serving institutions;

A promising new collaboration with the Kentucky-based Bluegrass State Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (BGS IC CAE), REEI and IU’s Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center (IAUNRC) that will contribute expertise in Baltic Studies and cybersecurity to facilitate the entry of underrepresented groups into intelligence and security professions.

You can read more about these and many other Title VI activities in this edition of REEIfication. We look forward to receiving your news and updates for sharing with the REEI community in future newsletters. Please be in touch with us by emailing reei@indiana.edu or visiting our Facebook page!

Sincerely,

Sarah D. Phillips, Director