New Mexico State University is expanding its global prominence by adding a Confucius Institute that will lead to more opportunities with China.

“The rise of Asian countries, most notably China, will shape all aspects of life in the 21st century – economically, politically, culturally – in many different ways,” says Ken Hammond, director of the NMSU Confucius Institute and an East Asia scholar.

As China’s economy surges and Mandarin Chinese remains the world’s fastest-growing language, NMSU’s interest in China is expanding. Since 2002, the university has participated in an exchange program with the Shijiazhuang Language and Culture College (SLCC) in Hebei Province, south of Beijing. In 2004, SLCC President Liu Guiyun told Hammond a new initiative in China would establish Confucius Institutes in universities around the world.

“Preparing our students and helping them to know more about Chinese language, history, culture, economics, politics and society is an integral part of the mission that we have as a university to serve our students and our community,” Hammond says. “The Confucius Institute will provide us with various resources and opportunities to enhance our ability to pursue that mission in a way that doesn’t require new resources from the state. It’s a win-win situation for the university.”

The goal is to have a self-sustaining institute after five years. A grant from the China Ministry of Education of $100,000 per year will help initially, but after that, money will have to be raised through other grants, fundraising activities, or fees for such services as language classes, business workshops and artistic performances.

Temporarily located in Monagle Hall, the Confucius Institute is modeled after Germany’s Goethe Institut and France’s Alliance Française, two institutes established in the last century to promote cultural and language understanding, Hammond says. More than 150 Confucius Institutes are now spread throughout the world from Singapore to Serbia. NMSU is the fourth western U.S. university with a Confucius Institute, joining Arizona State, Hawaii and San Francisco State.

“Our mission at NMSU has been not just to convince the people of New Mexico that we are a Pacific Rim state, but also to make sure that, as part of the 21st century, one has to come to grips with what’s happening across the Pacific,” says Elvira Hammond, also an NMSU professor of history and East Asia scholar who sits on the Confucius Institute’s board of directors. “As we increase the China presence on campus, the understanding of why it’s important to know about China will become more apparent to everyone.”

“There’s no question more Chinese classes will be offered here,” says Everett Egginton, dean of international and border programs at NMSU and president-elect of the largest international education organization in the world – NAFSA, the Association of International Educators. Chinese faculty who come to NMSU will spend more of their time on their own advanced study, but they also will teach language and culture classes and seminars. Also, NMSU students who want to study in China will be able to do so.

“The greater the presence of Chinese students and faculty here and the greater the number of our students in China, the inevitable consequence will be growth in what we have to offer about China, specifically in terms of courses, majors and programs,” Egginton says.

The Confucius Institute also allows NMSU to offer public programming on and off campus. For example, outreach workshops for members of the business community who want to pursue trade opportunities with China can be offered. NMSU faculty and resources, made possible because of the Confucius Institute, would lead and supply these workshops. Short courses in conversational Chinese and Chinese culture classes could be offered to people headed to China for business or pleasure.

“We’ll sometimes get a phone call from a middle school social studies teacher who needs help teaching a unit on Asia or China,” says Elvira Hammond. “We often help out informally and as time permits, but through the Confucius Institute, we need to be able to build and create units that teachers can plug into automatically, where resources will be readily available for the teachers. That, in turn, will help build interest in Asian studies among our students. We see it as a way of growing our students as well as helping the educational system.”

The feedback the Hammonds have received from Chinese citizens in Las Cruces has been enthusiastic.

“Many Chinese students and faculty who come to NMSU and their families see this as something that will enhance the awareness of China and Chinese culture in the larger community,” says Ken Hammond. “We’re talking about running a Chinese film series and bringing in Chinese writers and musical performers. We’re interested in anything that increases our interactions with China.”

One more way in which these interactions with China will be increased is through NMSU’s work with the Autonomous University of Chihuahua. Both universities now have Confucius Institutes, prompting Ken Hammond and Egginton to meet with their Chihuahua counterparts to discuss strategies from which both universities can work together to educate their populaces about China.

For more information: (505) 646-1818 or khammond@nmsu.edu