Thailand awards grant to UW

by Beth Mueller

Wednesday, October 24, 2007 00:00

The University of Wisconsin received nearly $100,000 in grant money from the Royal Thai Embassy, the UW Center for Southeast Asian Studies announced Tuesday.

The grant will be used to support the study of Thailand through scholarships, distinguished visitors and increased library holdings, according to Mike Cullinane, associate director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

UW is one of only three or four institutions to receive funding from the embassy, Cullinane said, and this is the first time the university received a significant sum of money from any embassy in Southeast Asia.

“There’s kind of an ongoing relationship that’s existed for many years between UW-Madison and Thailand,” Cullinane said, adding UW has taught Thai for more than 20 years, and the faculty’s commitment and resources are reasons why UW is one of the leading institutions in Thai studies.

“That’s why they picked us — because we already have a good program for Thai studies,” Cullinane said.

One program within the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, which will be supported by this grant, is a distinguished visitor series in which Thai studies experts will come to Madison, giving lectures and expanding existing academic relationships with UW faculty.

“We’ve had the ‘College Year in Thailand’ program going for about 25 years,” Thai language professor Robert Bickner said. “Very often the students who do that program want to go on with Thai studies, and those are the students, both before and after the trip, who are going to be most interested in the distinguished visitors.”

Grant money will also support the Council on Thai Studies, an annual organization currently based in the Midwest — particularly Madison — which seeks to expand its reach, Cullinane said.”Part of the money can be used then to make COTS a more national conference,” Cullinane said.

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies is currently working to add a certificate program in Thai studies, according to Cullinane. He added Thailand is one of four countries the center focuses on, along with Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

“It isn’t that our program has a stronger focus on Thailand, but that the Thai government realizes that we have a focus on them, and that’s their interest,” Cullinane said.