The University of Kentucky's Kazakh-American Studies Center

Kazakh-American Studies Center
305 Bradley Hall
Lexington, KY 40506-0058
Tel: (606) 257-3192
Fax: (606) 257-3192
E-mail: [email protected]
Contact: Roger Anderson, Director

The University of Kentucky founded the Kazakh-American Studies Center in 1993 in order to "develop and coordinate American ties with appropriate Kazakhstani government agencies and institutions of higher learning." The University chose to focus on Kazakhstan because of previous faculty ties to the region and growing affiliations with Kazakhstan's educational and administrative leadership.

The Center is involved in professional trainings, educational exchanges, intensive language programs, ESL teacher trainings, text translations, conferences, and research projects. Below are some highlights of their recent activities.

• obtained contracts with Kazakhstani Ministry of education for short-term training of government policy makers active in transition to the market economy.

• established long-term link between University of Kentucky and the Kazakh National Academy of Management in order to acquaint Kazakhstani business leaders with Western economic practices within the context of American cultural traditions of cultural pluralism and public policy.

• provided intensive short courses in Public Administration to middle and upper echelons of the Republic's Presidential "Apparat."

• began a humanities and social sciences library in Almaty and helped organize a large exhibit on Kazakh national traditions at the Lexington Children's Museum.

• received grant to create an American studies Institute in Almaty over next three years.

• hosted seven Kazakhstani professors of English to study ESL instruction methods at UK and prepare translations of American texts on business practices and Public Administration in association with the USIA Book Translation Project.
  
• obtained grant for Kentucky faculty and students to study intensive Kazakh.

The center has received grants from a number of Federal agencies and other sources. Among them are the Eurasia Foundation, USIA, and the Social Science Research Council.

Sponsored by:
Center for Civil Society International

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