The Confucius Institute at Maryland (CIM) has received $1 million in endowment funding from Hanban, the Office of Chinese Language Council International, in Beijing, China. The award will be matched dollar-for-dollar over the next year through a fundraising effort by CIM and the University of Maryland Office of University Relations. Once fully funded, the proceeds from the endowment will be used to establish and promote a distinguished scholar speaker series in Chinese literature, philosophy and culture, in collaboration with other schools and departments at the university.

University of Maryland President C. D. Mote, Jr., established CIM on campus in 2004, after returning from a trip to China, in close collaboration with then-Minister of Education at the Chinese Embassy (currently Secretary General of the Beijing Normal University) Chuansheng Liu (not to be confused with the professor and CIM director).

President Mote also established the Center for Chinese Language Teacher Certification and Development (CCLTCD) at the University of Maryland, the first in the state to certify and develop teachers of Chinese language. The Center was founded by the the College of Education and CIM in September 2009 through a $440,000 grant from Hanban. Dr. Linda Valli, professor and interim chair, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, is the director of the Center, which is currently recruiting students.

Tags: December 2009

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 9:08 am