Roger Williams University (RWU) announced today that the University has secured two federal grants that will help strengthen its institutional commitments to global education and sustainability:

• The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has awarded $96,798 to support an RWU initiative to create an Interdisciplinary Sustainability Study Abroad Program in the Republic of Turkey. The program will partner the University with prestigious Turkish educational institutions to collaborate on issues related to urbanization, pollution remediation, green building design and construction, renewable energy and public policy.
  
  
• Also building on the University’s significant global emphasis, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded $177,342 to create an East Asian Area Studies Program at RWU. The grant will support the development of a related academic curriculum and allow the University to expand study abroad opportunities, internship placements and service learning projects in East Asia.

In recent years, RWU has established itself as a University with an increasingly global reach. With particular emphasis on regions considered off the beaten path in the world of higher education, Roger Williams has spearheaded initiatives such as:

• becoming the first university to enroll Afghan women through the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women( IEAW);
  
  
• participating in the State Department’s Partnerships for Learning Undergraduate Studies (PLUS) and Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) programs;
  
  
• helping to free an Iraqi scholar and working now to do the same for a jailed Egyptian blogger, Kareem Amer.

In addition, RWU has committed substantial resources to increasing the number of faculty and staff members with global expertise, developing courses and curricula in international studies, supporting student and faculty study abroad programs, and hosting international conferences, speakers and symposia. Each of those investments reflects RWU’s commitment to teaching students to thrive on a global level.

“For the educated individual in the 21st century, grasping the intricacies of today’s globally connected world is imperative,” says University President Roy J. Nirschel. “I’m proud to say that when it comes to global initiatives, students at Roger Williams benefit from an array of opportunities that rival – and in many cases surpass – those at universities older, and wealthier.”

Today’s grant announcements come on the heels of an unrelated $1 million federal grant the University secured earlier this month from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Those funds will allow Roger Williams to continue to provide educational and research capacity to support continued growth of the region’s aquaculture industry.

About RWU: Roger Williams University is a leading independent, coeducational liberal arts university at which students live and learn to be global citizens. With 39 academic programs and an array of co-curricular activities on its Bristol, R.I., campus, RWU is committed to its mantra of learning to bridge the world. Under the leadership of President Roy J. Nirschel, Ph.D., the University has achieved unprecedented academic and financial successes. In 2008, U.S. News & World Report named RWU the eighth-ranked baccalaureate college in the north.