Resources
Resources
Office of Cultural & Academic Transitions
The Office of Cultural and Academic Transitions (OCAT) constructs supportive cultural, social, and educational communities that actively involve students in learning. OCAT supports individual students in their navigation of cross-cultural encounters, and in their own understanding, exploration, and development of cultural identity. Student-to-student interaction is the key to benefiting from diversity, and OCAT strives to bring together individuals as well as groups of students from diverse racial, ethnic, international, and domestic backgrounds for meaningful interactions. In part, OCAT accomplishes this mission by building critical alliances with peoples, programs, and ideas throughout the university. Additionally, OCAT helps students to better understand themselves and others through cultural, social, and academic activities.
Additional Centers, Academic Programs, and Minors
The Asian Studies Center (ASN) directs one of the largest, most diverse programs of education about Asia in the Midwest. ASN is distinguished by its comprehensive attention to East, South, and Southeast Asia in the design of its curriculum, the focus of faculty research, and the scope of outreach activities. Presently, the Center’s 90 affiliated faculty represent disciplines from across the curriculum in teaching undergraduate and graduate students.
African American and African Studies
African American and African Studies (AAAS) is a cross-college, university-wide, Ph.D. and M.A. degree-granting, interdisciplinary program as well as an Undergraduate Specialization. Our program is devoted to advanced exploration and analysis of the social, cultural, economic, and political experiences of African descendants in the United States, in the Caribbean, and elsewhere in the African Diaspora, as well as of Africans in the Continent. The mission of AAAS is the production and creation of knowledge and the cultivation of scholars committed to academic excellence and social responsibility in both the local and global community.
American Indian and Indigenous Studies
The American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) program at Michigan State University seeks to form an understanding of American Indian cultures and identities, the place of American Indian/Indigenous people in today's world, and the changing demands of American Indian/Indigenous peoples in the pursuit of cross-cultural diversity. These are issues that transcend traditional boundaries between academic disciplines. To understand the complexity of these subjects and to respond to them thoughtfully, students require a range of training both across disciplines and outside university settings. Michigan State University's AIIS program is designed to meet this need.
The Chicano/Latino Studies program at Michigan State University offers a minor to undergraduate students, which complements most majors. Students in the social sciences and humanities may find this minor especially attractive. The Program also houses the Chicano/Latino Studies Scholars Program, a mentoring program for CLS specialization students.