UNC is merging 6 global studies centers into one, with a fraction of the budget
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UNC plans to combine six area study centers into one umbrella unit in Arts & Sciences.
- University will allocate $675,000 to the combined centers after $7M savings noted.
- Center directors negotiating structure, donor funding and degree of autonomy.
The six area study centers focused on international studies that were slated to be closed by UNC-Chapel Hill will be combined into a single unit, according to Jim White, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
The centers, whose closure is part of a $7 million cut to centers and institutes from the university’s budget, will be allocated $675,000 total, said UNC Faculty Council Chair Beth Moracco.
The new plan for the centers is the result of negotiations between leadership and the directors of the area study centers.
In late January, UNC formally announced plans to shutter the African Studies Center, the Carolina Asia Center, the Center for European Studies, the Center for East European Studies, the Center for Islamic Studies and the Institute for the Study of the Americas. The controversial cut is part of a wider effort to save a total of $87 million in the face of state and federal funding pressure.
After the cuts went public, White “kind of immediately went into negotiating mode” with center directors, Moracco said. “He told me he was working very closely with the center directors and giving them autonomy to come up with a structure that works for them.”
Initially, some of the work of the centers was supposed to be absorbed into existing departments and schools, but center directors were very opposed to this idea. As a kind of compromise, the current plan is to create an “umbrella organization” within the College of Arts and Sciences that has six sub-units representing each of the original centers.
“Faculty leadership in the six Area Studies Centers are working on a plan to combine the centers into a single unit in the College of Arts and Sciences,” White told The News & Observer. “They plan to continue key functions such as undergraduate and graduate-degree programs, gift- and endowment-funded activities such as speaker series and travel programs, continue ongoing interdisciplinary collaborations, and be ready to respond to calls for funding opportunities.
“The University and the College remain committed to global studies, as well as empowering our faculty to continue their research and creative work. As they finalize plans, we hope to be able to share more information on this.”
Moracco says center directors must figure out how to go on with limited resources. They are getting in touch with donors and stakeholders, trying to figure out how funding will be administered and how much independence each center will have.
“There was such an enormous, heartfelt, passionate outcry against the loss of these centers,” Moracco said. “I don’t think that when the decision was made, [university leadership] really understood the full impact of these centers, and were a bit surprised by the outcry. I think that did allow for some reconsideration.
“This isn’t a complete walk-back. Our preference would be that they reverse this decision. But this was definitely a reconsideration of how to maintain the integrity of the centers and the work they do within perceived budget realities.”
Though she and other members of the council are deeply disappointed by the decision to close the centers as they exist now, Moracco said, they are working to support what emerges from the ashes.
This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 3:25 PM with the headline "UNC is merging 6 global studies centers into one, with a fraction of the budget."
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the amount of savings originally associated with cutting the area study centers.
