Indiana University Hamilton Lugar School’s Southeast Asian and ASEAN Studies Program to offer Burmese language

The Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University begins teaching Burmese Language in Fall 2019 through the Southeast Asian and ASEAN Studies (SEAS) Program and will host an intensive Myanmar Language Workshop in Summer 2020.

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept 19, 2019—The Southeast Asian and ASEAN Studies (SEAS) Program, a program in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University and a friend to the Burmese American Community Institute (BACI), has begun offering Burmese Language in the Fall 2019 semester. The Hamilton Lugar School’s Language Workshop, Indiana University’s home for intensive, accelerated summer language study, will teach Burmese for the first time in summer 2020.

Ms. Khaing Zin Thant from Myanmar has already arrived in Bloomington through the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Program and is teaching the Burmese language class.

Dr. Peg Sutton, director of the Hamilton Lugar School SEAS program, said, “SEAS is happy and proud to join the exclusive ranks of U.S. universities that offer instruction in the Burmese language.  The Introductory Burmese course opened in August has good enrollment. This is another concrete example of IU’s longstanding engagement with Myanmar and its people. We are so fortunate to have Ms. Thant to inaugurate the Burmese language program at HLS.  Like all of our FLTAs, she is an exceptional language teacher. She brings passion to her work of promoting the Burmese language and knowledge of Myanmar broadly within Indiana.”

“Nothing could make me happier and more satisfied than being a Burmese FLTA in the Hamilton Lugar School. I am bestowed with many opportunities to widen the knowledge of language teaching and to gain the invaluable experiences in sharing Burmese culture in a very diverse society. Moreover, I am very pleased to observe the American culture through the wonderful people I have met in Bloomington. I wish the friendship between the United States of America and Myanmar remains and lasts forever,” added Khaing Zin Thant.

Indiana University will join the ranks of only a few places in the US where the Myanmar language is taught full-time. Cornell University, the University of California Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and Northern Illinois University have also offered the Burmese language.

“Burmese is a language we have wanted to teach for some time,” says Professor Kathleen Evans, Director of the Hamilton Lugar School Language Workshop. “With a large and vibrant Myanmar community in Central Indiana, with strong international ties, and with a growing program in Southeast Asian Studies in Bloomington, there is a real need for the kind of effective, intensive language instruction that Indiana University provides in its summer intensive programs. Our interactions with BACI and the Indiana Myanmar communities have been very productive to date and we look forward to working together as we launch the summer 2020 Burmese Program.”

Teaching more languages than any other university in the country, the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University is a national leader in the study of the international and global affairs.

“BACI is privileged to be part of this conversation and I am excited about this development—and looking forward to collaboratively working with the Myanmar Language & the Southeast Asian and ASEAN Studies Program at Indiana University. No doubt this initiative will play an important role in promoting stronger ties and better relations between the American people and the people of Myanmar now and in the long-run,” remarked Elaisa Vahnie, Executive Director of BACI.

With 640-million of the world’s population and $2.76 trillion of world GDP in 2018, the Southeast Asian region, which has been quickly establishing itself as emerging global market, is becoming geopolitically and strategically increasingly important to the US and the world.

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Indiana University has a rich tradition of providing training to Myanmar students and supporting the Southeast Asian nation, including through: the IU Office of International Development (OID) that administered a Burmese Scholarship program funded by the U.S. Department of State which has successfully produced more than 70 individuals, many of who are currently assuming various leadership roles at different organizations both inside and outside the country, whereby supporting  peace, democracy and development in Myanmar, the ongoing Myanmar Youth Leadership Program (MYLP) administered by the OID, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, the Kelley School’s project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development that supports Myanmar’s economic transition, and Maurer School of Law’s Center for Constitutional Democracy that advises and supports constitutional design in Myanmar. BACI and centers at IU have also jointly hosted the unprecedented U.S-Myanmar Engagement Conference where Nobel Laureate & Myanmar State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi delivered a video keynote address. More recently, BACI is working with the IU Maurer School of Law, O’Neil School of Public and Environment Affairs (SPEA), IU McKinney School of Law, and other institutions in the US to implement a scholarship program for Myanmar students with the intention to train the next generation of leaders at top U.S. graduate and professionals schools—both in Master’s and Ph.D. degree programs. In addition, through BACI facilitation, Myanmar is included in the USAID-funded $70 million LASER project through consortium Universities, including Indiana University Bloomington, the University of Notre Dame, and led by Purdue University that aims to co-create research solutions for developing countries.

About the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies: The Hamilton Lugar School at Indiana University is a national leader in area and international studies, promoting understanding of global issues informed by a deep knowledge of history, culture and language. Named for revered Hoosier statesmen and foreign policy voices, former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton and the late former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, the school is committed to creating leaders who celebrate differences and seek shared understanding.

About Burmese American Community Institute: The Burmese American Community Institute is a non-profit organization founded in 2011 that provides educational and vocational support to the Burmese community in greater Indianapolis. The BACI supports community members regionally, nationally, and globally through strategic partnerships and advocacy. Since its inception, the BACI has assisted over 9,000 individuals.

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