The Grants Resource Center, by Wellons, Richard
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has opened three FY 18 competitions of interest to colleges and universities looking to support area studies and foreign language teaching and capacity building: National Resource Centers (NRC), Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS), and Language Resource Centers (LRC).
The NRC program provides grants to colleges and universities (or consortia) to establish, strengthen, and operate comprehensive and undergraduate centers as national resources for the teaching of foreign languages, instruction related to area studies, and research and training in international studies. The NRC program has two absolute priorities, which must be addressed by all applicants, and two optional competitive preference priorities, which GRC recommends that applicants address for up to 10 additional points. Approximately $22.7 million is available for an estimated 100 NRC awards ranging from $188,000 to $270,000 per year to support projects lasting up to 48 months.
The FLAS program allocates academic year and summer fellowships to colleges and universities (or consortia) to assist meritorious undergraduate and graduate students receiving modern foreign language training in combination with area studies, international studies, or the international aspects of professional studies. GRC recommends that applicants address the two optional FLAS competitive preferences, which provide up to 10 additional points to an application. Approximately $30.3 million is available for an estimated 105 FLAS awards ranging from $154,500 to $351,000 per year to support projects lasting up to 48 months.
The Language Resource Centers (LRC) program provides grants to colleges and universities (or consortia) to establish, strengthen, and operate centers that serve as resources for improving the nation’s capacity for teaching and learning foreign languages through teacher training, research, materials development, assessment, and dissemination projects. GRC recommends that applicants address the two optional LRC competitive preferences, which provide up to 10 additional points to an application. Approximately $2.75 million is available for an estimated 16 awards ranging from $130,000 to $197,000 to support projects lasting up to 48 months.
Applications for the NRC, FLAS, and LRC programs are due June 25, 2018. For more information, see the appropriate federal register notices (NRC, FLAS, and LRC) and agency websites (NRC, FLAS, and LRC).