Rutgers and the World

Area studies

African Studies Association was founded in 1957 as a non-profit organization open to all individuals and institutions interested in African affairs. Its mission is to bring together people with a scholarly and professional interest in Africa. The ASA also provides information and support services to the Africanist community. Four periodicals are currently produced annually: African Issues, ASA News, African Studies Review, and History in Africa. With 2,500 individual and institutional members, the ASA is the leading North American organization that promotes African studies. The ASA is hosted by Rutgers University.

Asian American Cultural Center documents and disseminates information about the artistic, scientific, social, and political contributions of Asian and Asian American people. It focuses on expanding multicultural and intercultural understanding among Rutgers undergraduate students, and providing a supportive environment for Asian and Asian American students.

Asian Studies Program was established in 1969 to cultivate, promote, and coordinate the study of all aspects of Asia. In addition to administering the undergraduate minor and the graduate certificate in Asian studies, the program also encourages research, develops curricula, and sponsors lectures and other cultural activities intended to enhance the understanding of Asia.

Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life promotes scholarly exchange on an international scale by bringing visiting scholars to Rutgers to teach special courses and to contribute to the intellectual life of the University community. The Center works closely with the Department of Jewish Studies offering a wide range of extracurricular programs for students and seminars for faculty. The Center's active agenda of community outreach includes public lectures and symposia, Jewish communal initiatives, the Rutgers New Jersey Jewish Film Festival, and the activities of the Herbert and Leonard Littman Families Holocaust Resource Center .

Center for African Studies promotes the teaching of Africa through curricular and faculty development. It informs a broader public through a vigorous outreach program of community projects and educators' workshops for K-12 teachers, and coordinates a large offering of Africa-related courses throughout the university system. The Center also supports faculty research in Africa and builds linkages with Africa-based scholars, institutions of higher learning and NGOs. The Center’s members serve as consultants to public officials, businesses, schools and NGOs.

Center for Comparative European Studies encourages a multidisciplinary and comparative study of 21st century Europe as it extends its borders, constructs new institutions, and integrates new populations. Our goal is to bring together people involved in scholarly research and policymaking to share ideas, engage in debate, and design collaborative projects.

Center for Global Change and Governance (CGCG) at Rutgers University in Newark was established in 1995 as a freestanding graduate-level institution independent of any school or department at Rutgers University. The Center administers graduate programs in global affairs, conducts research on the causes and consequences of global change, and serves as the focus of the university's outreach to professional communities with global concerns. The Center's approach to global affairs is explicitly interdisciplinary, drawing on the research, teaching excellence, and expertise of a distinguished faculty representing a variety of disciplines-anthropology, criminal justice, economics, history, law, management, political science, public administration, and sociology.

Center for International Faculty and Student Services coordinates services for about 3,000 international students, scholars, faculty and their dependents, and offers programs with an international focus for all members of the university community.

Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries, established in the School of communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers, provides the international community of scholars and practitioners an arena to develop and exchange research-enhancing learning in school libraries worldwide. The Center is dedicated to research, scholarship, education and consultancy for school library professionals.

Center for Latin American Studies fosters learning and research across disciplines and geographic boundaries. Academic courses together with concerts, visiting writers, film series, conferences and lectures highlight migration, literary innovation, linguistic and political change in Latin American contexts. The program moves beyond traditional regionalism for a more thorough understanding of culture throughout the Americas.

Center for Latino Arts and Culture's mission is to research, document, interpret and promote Latino, Hispanic, Caribbean and Latin American arts and culture. Through its programs and publications, the Center seeks to advance the appreciation and understanding of Latino artistic production, scholarship, and cultural traditions.

Center for Middle Eastern Studies promotes the teaching of Middle East through various courses, projects, events and outreach programs.

Center for Women’s Global Leadership develops and facilitates women's leadership in women's human rights and social justice worldwide. The Global Center works from a human rights perspective with an emphasis on violence against women, sexual and reproductive health and socio-economic well-being. The Global Center's programs are in two broad areas of policy & advocacy and leadership development & women's human rights education. Founded as a project of Douglass College in 1989, the Center is a unit of the Institute for Women's Leadership (IWL)—a consortium of six women's programs at Rutgers University created to study and promote how and why women lead, and to develop programs that prepare women of all ages to lead effectively.

Department of Religion at Rutgers

Global Village aims to develop language skills, inter-cultural appreciation, global awareness and a sense of community among its residents. It is open to all eligible Rutgers undergraduate women in New Brunswick, with a majority of slots reserved for Douglass College students. Global Village residents will be offered the opportunity to live in interest “units,” including human rights, French, Spanish, Africana culture and East Asian culture. Each unit will have a resident director and special academic requirements.

An international journal for human support research, HABITATION is designed to meet the needs of an emerging field of study. HABITATION provides a peer-reviewed forum for the sharing of these concepts among diverse groups. The journal meets the needs of collaborating scientists interested in the development of advanced habitation systems for humans living in isolated and extreme environments. Focus areas include, but are not limited to, monitoring and control, human life support, and human factors and ergonomics.

Holocaust Resource Center teaches future generations about the Holocaust by training educators, and providing instructional materials to teachers, students and scholars; enhances public awareness about the Holocaust, racism and genocide through seminars, lectures and exhibits; heightens sensitivity and awareness of discrimination by encouraging discussions about differences, tolerance and prejudice; and provides information and referrals for individuals, schools and community groups to speakers, programs, educational materials and special events.

At the forefront of interdisciplinary research since its founding in 1976, Institute for Research on Women has been a central force in establishing Rutgers University as one of the most distinguished research institutions in the world for the study of women and gender.

Institute of Hungarian Studies is the center of all instructional and scholarly activities related to Hungarian society, history, culture and language at Rutgers. Established by an agreement between Rutgers and the Ministry of Culture and Education of the Republic of Hungary, it is a multidisciplinary endeavor, bringing together specialists from a wide range of fields in the social sciences, the humanities and the arts.

Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience is an interdisciplinary academic program for the study of ethnicity, race, and culture in modern life. It serves as a hub for the promotion of research, collegial discussion, and especially, scholarly service to the public. The Institute seeks to promote interracial and multicultural understanding through research, lectures, symposia, film, performances, exhibitions, and other programs open to the public.

International Opportunities provides a list of websites that post international internships and jobs.

The Graduate School of Rutgers in Camden and the Peace Corps jointly sponsor a special program in International Public Service and Development. The Program combines a course of graduate level policy and public administration, international development, and non-profit management studies prior to placement as a Peace Corps volunteer.

International Students Incorporated meets the needs of international students by befriending them, helping them adjust to life in America, serving their needs, and sharing God's love with them. All international students are welcome at any ISI event regardless of their religious faiths or practices.

International Women’s Group primarily responds to the needs of the wives of graduate students, visiting scholars and faculty.

Paul Robeson Cultural Center focuses on the aesthetic contributions of African-Americans to America and world culture through literature, science and the arts. Center programs and services educate, develop and advocate a positive African-American concept at Rutgers University.

Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies is an interdisciplinary degree program that includes courses in Portuguese language and Lusophone literature, culture and history, while taking full advantage of Rutgers-Newark's proximity to the Portuguese-speaking community of the Ironbound, so that students can combine experiential learning with classroom instruction. A major/minor in Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies prepares students for careers in business and finance, foreign affairs, international trade, education, medicine, healthcare, and public service.

Recently established at Rutgers,South Asian Studies Program seeks to promote the study of South Asia and its diasporic communities through the development of an interdisciplinary set of courses, speakers' series, and public events.

Virtual Religion Index of the Rutgers Department of Religion is a comprehensive database of electronic resources and Internet sites about the world religions.

Founded in 1991,World Criminal Justice Library Electronic Network is a comprehensive online library with electronic links to criminal justice libraries and collections around the world.

Language Departments

Department of Africana Studies at Rutgers University is an interdisciplinary department encompassing the study of the history and culture of Africa and the African Diaspora. Its professors are trained in a broad range of disciplines including anthropology, folklore, history, language and literature, musicology, political science, and sociology, among others. Africana Studies is the study, research, interpretation, and the dissemination of knowledge concerning African American, African, and Caribbean affairs and culture. Using the tools of the social sciences and humanities, Africana Studies examines the structure, organization, problems, and perspectives of the peoples of Africa and the African Diaspora. Africana Studies also examines issues of politics and social change in African American communities and various African and Caribbean nations. The term "Africana" incorporates the three areas of concentration within the department--African, African American, and diaspora/comparative social sciences and humanities. 

Department of Asian Languages and Cultures offers major programs in Chinese and in East Asian Languages and Area Studies—with concentrations in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, and minors programs in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Asian Studies. The department offers introductory language programs for students just beginning the study of East Asian languages. The different writing systems, the complex characters and idioms, and the new set of sounds and inflections present rewarding intellectual challenges. Upper-level courses also offer more advanced students the opportunity for in-depth analysis of Asian cultures. Through courses on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean civilization and literature, Rutgers students study the elements that formed these languages centuries ago and the forces that shape their modern expression.

Department of French at Rutgers University offers three tracks within the undergraduate major: literary studies, cultural studies, and linguistics. The graduate program in French at Rutgers leads to M.A., M.A.T., and Ph.D. degrees. An ambitious and balanced curriculum of literary and interdisciplinary studies provides a variety of options encouraging students to shape their own programs. Our distinguished faculty offers seminars that explore a broad range of perspectives in all areas of French and Francophone literatures and cultures, as well as topics spanning contemporary debates in critical theory.

Department of Germanic, Russian and Eastern European Languages offers two options for completing the undergraduate major in German. The option in Language and Literature trains students to attain linguistic proficiency and a broad knowledge of German literature and culture. The interdisciplinary German Studies option additionally enables students to broaden and deepen their interests in another academic field. The department offers two options for completing the minor, corresponding to the two available majors. The department also offers M.A. degrees in German literature and M.A.T. degrees in German designed for those already teaching German or working toward certification.

Department of Italian at Rutgers University offers a variety of courses from the elementary to the graduate level. They include the study of Italian language, literature and culture. We are one of the few Departments of Italian in the country to offer a doctorate, the first of which was conferred in 1965.

Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Rutgers University offers undergraduate majors and minors in Spanish and Portuguese. The department’s graduate program leads to masters and doctorate degrees .

Language Institute at Rutgers provides technology training, curriculum development assistance, TA / PTL training, language coordination and a variety of other programs, services and facilities to support world language study at Rutgers University.

Russian and East European Languages and Literatures Program is part of the Department of Germanic, Russian and East European Languages and Literatures at Rutgers University. It regularly offers courses in Russian, Polish and Hungarian languages and in the literatures of these countries. The program offers two major options in Russian and minors in Russian and Hungarian.

Global Reach

By participating in Across the Cultural Divide, students and teachers communicate with peers across the world about issues that we all face in this global community.

Center for Global Strategic Human Resource Management serves to create a knowledge repository on global human resource management, so that students, faculty and professionals in the area understand the subject better and make better decisions.

Created in 1986,Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (CNCR) engages in education, training, research and direct services in preventing and resolving disputes. It serves as a resource both in and outside New Jersey for those interested in negotiation and the theory and practice of conflict resolution. The Center is also part of a consortium of 18 conflict resolution centers at such universities as Harvard, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, Northwestern, Stanford, Syracuse and Wisconsin. The centers collaborate through joint research projects and workshops, seminars, and conferences that explore ideas and works in progress.

The goal of Global Citizen 2000 is to produce curricular modules that will enable high school teachers to increase the quantity and quality of teaching about the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and globalization in schools in New Jersey and throughout America.

Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program was created in 1978 to honor the late vice president of the United States and to embody his commitment to international awareness and understanding. The program provides a unique opportunity for mid-career professionals from designated countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East to come to the United States for a year of academic study and professional development. Each fellow spends the year engaged in activities guaranteed to increase his or her professional knowledge as well as managerial, leadership, communication and negotiation skills.

Journalism Resources Institute offers seminars, workshops, conferences, symposia, visiting lectureships, research and special fellowship opportunities. It has trained print and broadcast journalists in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as in countries of the ex-Soviet Union.

Local Democracy Partnership, formerly Local Democracy in Poland (LDP), is a grant-funded program situated within the Center for Russian, Central, and East European Studies at Rutgers. Its mission is to strengthen local self-government and encourage an active citizenry in Central and East European countries (CEE) through practical programs, scholarly research, and public policy making initiatives.

Rutgers Global Initiative is a faculty-driven collaborative initiative to promote global studies, international studies, and area studies at Rutgers. This project draws upon the energies and expertise of faculty in many departments and area studies units. Global studies at Rutgers serves the diverse and unique citizenry of New Jersey, which is an exciting microcosm of an interconnected and complex world. The Global Initiative draws on Rutgers strong tradition of work on women and gender, as well as democracy and human rights. Our faculty come from many disciplines and approaches from business and law to anthropology and history.

Rutgers University Global Programs is dedicated to the study of global concerns and to the encouragement of cooperative ventures at the university, in New Jersey, in the United States, and abroad.

Study Abroad at Rutgers University offers more than 40 programs in 20 countries, including Australia, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, England, France, Germany, Ireland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, the Netherlands, Scotland, South Africa, South Korea and Spain.