The Great Lakes Culture Program will expand the understanding of the history, people, traditions and customs of the Great Lakes region.

The Great Lakes Culture Program is one of 16 regional centers across the country to receive partial funding by the Initiative for Regional Humanities Centers, a new program developed by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). MSU received $50,000 for the planning stages of the initiative.

"People everywhere define themselves through the places where they live or where they grew up - their sense of place,'" said NEH's Acting Deputy Chairman George Farr. "History, folklore, language and landscape - all the things we know as the humanities - shape us in deep and lasting ways. By exploring these regional characteristics, we rediscover our cultural roots and reaffirm our common bonds as Americans."

"Although various aspects of Great Lakes study have been under way at MSU for many years, the development of the Great Lakes Culture Program will formalize the connections among Great Lakes-related activities on campus and develop new linkages with other cultural institutions throughout the region," said Peter Berg, acting director of the Program and director of MSU's Special Collections.

The Program will connect and build on existing programs at MSU and across the region. Its goal is identify, collect, study, interpret and disseminate the cultural history and expressions of the diverse peoples, traditions and customs of the Great Lakes region and the region's interactions with the world in the following ways:

"This is an exciting new initiative that embodies the College's emphasis on cross-unit collaboration and deepens our commitment to serving the local and regional community," said Wendy Wilkins, dean of the College of Arts and Letters. "Support for the Center from federal and private sources will allow us, increasingly, to extend our scholarship and community outreach beyond our Michigan borders to the greater Great Lakes regions.

"No institution is better situated or equipped than MSU to become the international leader in work on the culture of this important region."

"This NEH grant support will enable the MSU Museum to create new partnerships with other museums, archives and cultural heritage organizations to expand the understanding of the cultural history of the Great Lakes region," said Kurt Dewhurst, director of the MSU Museum.

In addition to the $50,000 NEH grant, the Center also has received funding from MSU's vice president for research and $25,000 in private support.

"We're thrilled to be involved in MSU's regional initiative, which promises to be a powerful collaborator for both public programs and scholarship among cultural entities throughout the region," said Rick Knupfer, executive director of Michigan Humanities Council, one of the Program's steering partners. "The region's other state humanities councils are equally delighted to be involved."

Similar centers will be located across the country in regions that have been identified as the Pacific, South, Rocky Mountains, Plains, Upper Mississippi Valley, Central, Deep South, South Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic and New England.

"We are excited about the prospects of the new Program because it provides an opportunity to formalize informal relationships across campus and also allow us to develop better working relationships and information-sharing with institutions across the region," said Lynne Goldstein, professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology. "Collaboration across disciplines and interests will be enhanced."