Pitt’s Global Studies Program Announces 2007-08 GAP Grants

Two $20,000 Pitt Global Academic Partnership (GAP) grants have been awarded to fund:

• A project assessing the work of global analysis pioneer Andre Gunder Frank, and

• An international collaboration among universities for the advancement of research and training programs promoting global health and sustainable development.

GAP grants are intended to strengthen interdisciplinary research and curriculum development on critical global issues, while enhancing international scholarly ties and raising Pitt’s international profile.

One grant was jointly awarded to Pitt School of Arts and Sciences faculty members Patrick Manning, professor of history; John Beverly, professor of Hispanic languages and literatures; and Thomas Rawski, professor of economics, as well as foreign partners from the University of Newcastle, England.

Their project, titled “Andre Gunder Frank’s Legacy of Critical Social Science,” will support an international conference honoring the life and work of Frank, a pioneer in global analysis in the social sciences. The international conference will focus on the scholarly assessment of Frank’s work and the current status of analysis in the fields in which he worked. The conference, to be held in March 2008, will address six areas: underdevelopment and dependency in Latin America; world accumulation and world system; 5,000-year world system; East Asia in the world economy; social movements; and contemporary political and economic analysis.

The other GAP grant was jointly awarded to Joseph Alter, professor of anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences; P. Sudhakar Reddy, professor of cardiology in the School of Medicine; Eric Beckman, professor of chemical and petroleum engineering in the School of Engineering; and foreign partners from the MediCiti Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, India.

That project, titled “Research and Training: Global Health and Sustainable Development,” will support a workshop focusing on global health and sustainable development. The workshop, to be held in November 2007, will support research, training, curriculum development, and collaborative projects between Pitt, the MediCiti Institute of Medical Sciences, the University of Hyderabad, and New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. The event will assemble faculty to identify mutual interests, additional funding possibilities, and interdisciplinary strengths, as well as to establish initial pilot research and training programs.

GAP, launched in fall 2001, is an initiative of the Global Studies Program in the University Center for International Studies (UCIS) and the University’s Office of the Provost. The Global Studies Program is jointly sponsored by UCIS and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

The GAP grants support international research conferences and workshops that result in publications and curricular enhancement. Projects must be related to one of the six global issues targeted by Pitt’s Global Studies Program: sustainable development, global economy and global governance, changing identities in a global world, conflict and conflict resolution, communication, technology and society, and global health.

For more information about the Global Studies Program, visit www.ucis.pitt.edu/global or e-mail global@ucis.pitt.edu.