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The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $1.51 million grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for International Business Education and Research (UNC-CIBER). 

UNC-CIBER is housed in the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise at Kenan-Flagler Business School. It is one of 33 federally designated CIBERs with the ultimate goal of increasing U.S. global competitiveness.

UNC-CIBER has planned 29 new initiatives over the next four years, spanning curricular innovations in international business, cutting-edge research and outreach activities for businesses and the larger community. In collaboration with Kenan-Flagler, UNC-CIBER will establish programs related to China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Kenya.

Jayashankar Swaminathan, senior associate dean for academic affairs at Kenan-Flagler, is the new UNC-CIBER faculty director. He is an internationally recognized expert and a distinguished professor of global business operations and strategy. His work has focused on emerging economies, including India, China and Africa.

Swaminathan and managing director Julia Kruse will lead initiatives that address international business issues significant to North Carolina and the United States: entrepreneurship, innovation, supply chain management and sustainability in global contexts. The four-year grant will allow UNC-CIBER to build on its existing strengths and continue to further globalization efforts.

“We have made significant strides in globalization, and now we have a chance to move faster and further in this direction,” said James W. Dean Jr., dean of Kenan-Flagler.

New initiatives include:

• The Next Generation program for junior faculty (junior faculty in entrepreneurship or supply chain management from Thailand, China and India will come to UNC for a module or semester to teach and research and participate in the Next Generation annual symposium);
• Faculty development programs;
• Mini-grants for graduate students from various disciplines across campus to intern or research overseas and for faculty to conduct research on current international business issues
• international internship programs for undergraduate business students;
• Language Across the Curriculum (LAC) courses that offer language training in conjunction with business classes;
• A new innovation lab that will bring together business people, students and faculty to solve real international business problems; and
• Cross-disciplinary symposiums on global innovations in sustainability.

UNC-CIBER collaborates with other federally funded area studies centers and partners with schools and departments across the University. UNC-CIBER’s outreach activities are offered to constituents throughout North Carolina.

UNC Center for International Business Education and Research: http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/ki/ciber/, (919) 962-7843, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Kenan-Flagler Business School contact: Allison Adams, (919) 962-7235,  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it