Montana State University Billings announced January 22, they have received one of the largest Title VI grants in history of any university in the state.
YPR’s Orlinda Worthington reports on what the money will provide.
Montana State University Billings is the recipient of a major, multi-year grant of nearly $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to support the expansion of international studies and foreign languages in the region.
Paul Foster is the executive director of the Office of International Studies.
He says the primary goal of the grant is to expand less commonly taught languages such as Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin to more colleges in eastern Montana and northern Wyoming.
“When we look at exports in energy, exports in agriculture, a lot of our products are sent abroad. So it's a really important part of the Montana economy and more and more services are being exported throughout the world,” Foster said.
Foster feels the collaboration also provides a deeper function.
“In the year 1920, for example, over half of the families in Montana, according to the census, then spoke a language at home other than English. So, everybody from Montana can trace somebody who came to Montana from a different area. Then on top of that, we have our indigenous languages here spoken in Montana for, you know, millennia,” Foster said.
The Office of International Studies at MSU Billings will collaborate with partners Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming; Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency; Dawson Community College in Glendive and Miles Community College.
In Billings, I’m Orlinda Worthington.
MSU Billings welcomes students from over 30 countries to Billings each year. Last fall, the campus welcomed the largest international student enrollment to campus in over 10 years, with students from over 30 countries
The U.S. Department of Education grant is one of five given to institutions of higher education in Montana and Wyoming to expand and create new international studies programs.
