University of North Carolina Center for Global Initiatives

As a catalyst for innovative academic work, the Center for Global Initiatives is nimble and entrepreneurial in seeking out opportunities with potentially high impact on faculty, students and the wider community.

To execute this mission, the Center relies on a multi-pronged strategy:

• Create and manage funding opportunities
  It offers an array of competitive awards and fellowships to faculty, students, and staff to support diverse work including innovative teaching, international internships, conference presentations, campus events, and pre-dissertation research;

• Conceive and organize forums for exchanging ideas
  From major events like conferences on the Global American South and Visualizing Human Rights to intimate faculty working groups on economic development and on the global nursing workforce, it facilitates the flow of ideas;

• Produce and disseminate resources
  Drawing upon the university's institutional strengths, it generates products ranging from a multimedia project on Muslim identity to databases that highlight the faculty's international expertise and student internship experiences;

• Secure and implement grant proposals 
  Founded in 1993, it has received over $25 million in grants from agencies and private donors including Carnegie, Ford, Freeman, Gates, MacArthur, Mellon, NSF, Z. Smith Reynolds, Rockefeller, Rotary International, United Nations University, USAID, U.S. Departments of Education and State, and the World Bank.

With support from the Center, some global initiatives grow into major entities, while others fail to take off – that’s the nature of our work.

On this page you can explore current initiatives that we seek to grow into programs or resources.  And please explore the awards and fellowships that may seed innovative ideas that expand and amplify the global work of UNC.