[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 184 (Thursday, September 23, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51580-51583]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24790]


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UNITED STATES INFORMATION AGENCY


Summer Institutes in American Studies for Foreign University 
Teachers; Request for Proposals

SUMMARY: The Study of the U.S. Branch, Office of Academic Exchange 
Programs, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces an open 
competition for three (3) assistance awards. For applicants' 
information, on October 1, 1999, the Bureau will become part of the 
U.S. Department of State without affecting the content of this 
announcement or the nature of the program described. Public and private 
non-profit organizations meeting the provisions described in IRS 
regulation 26 CFR 1.501(C) may apply to develop and implement one of 
the following three post-graduate level American Studies programs 
designed for multinational groups of 18 experienced foreign university 
faculty:

1. Summer Institute on the U.S. Political System: Origin, Structure and 
Contemporary Issues
2. Summer Institute on the Cultural Geography of the United States: 
American Regions
3. Summer Institute on the United States Through Literature: Content 
and Method in American Studies

    These programs are intended to provide participants with a deeper 
understanding of American life and institutions, past and present, in 
order to strengthen curricula and to improve the quality of teaching 
about the United States at universities abroad.
    Programs are six weeks in length and will be conducted during the 
Summer of 2000.
    The Bureau is seeking detailed proposals from colleges, 
universities, consortia of colleges and universities, and other not-
for-profit academic organizations that have an established reputation 
in one or more of the following fields: political science, 
international relations, law, history, sociology, literature, American 
studies, and/or other disciplines or sub-disciplines related to the 
program theme. Applicant institutions must demonstrate expertise in 
conducting post-graduate programs for foreign educators, and must have 
a minimum of four years experience in conducting international exchange 
programs. The project director or one of the key program staff 
responsible for the academic program must have an advanced degree in 
one of the fields listed above. Staff escorts traveling under the 
cooperative agreement must have demonstrated qualifications for this 
service.
    Programs must conform with Bureau requirements and guidelines 
outlined in the Solicitation Package. Bureau programs are subject to 
the availability of funds.

Program Information

Overview and Objectives

    The ``Summer Institutes in American Studies'' are intended to offer 
foreign scholars and teachers whose professional work focuses on the 
United States the opportunity to deepen their understanding of American 
institutions and culture. Their ultimate goal is to strengthen 
curricula and to improve the quality of teaching about the U.S. in 
universities abroad.
    Programs should be six weeks in length, and must include an 
academic residency segment of at least four weeks duration at a U.S. 
college or university campus (or other appropriate location). A study 
tour segment of not more than two weeks should also be planned. It must 
directly complement the academic residency segment and should include 
visits to one or two additional regions of the United States.
    All institutes should be designed as intensive, academically 
rigorous seminars intended for an experienced group of fellow scholars 
from outside the United States. The institutes should be organized 
through an integrated series of lectures, readings, seminar 
discussions, regional travel, site visits, and should also include some 
opportunity for limited but well-directed independent research.
    Institutions submitting proposals are encouraged to design 
thematically coherent programs in ways that draw upon the particular 
strengths and resources of their institutions as well as upon the 
nationally recognized expertise of scholars and other experts 
throughout the United States. Within the limits of the program's 
thematic focus and organizing framework, proposals should also be 
designed to:
    A. Provide participants with a survey of contemporary scholarship 
within the institute's governing academic discipline, delineating the 
current scholarly debate within the field. In this regard, the seminar 
should indicate how prevailing academic practice in the discipline 
represents both a continuation of and a departure from past scholarly 
trends and practices. A variety of scholarly viewpoints should be 
included;
    B. Bring an interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary focus to bear 
on the program content when appropriate;
    C. Give participants a multi-dimensional view of U.S. society and 
institutions that includes a broad and balanced range of perspectives. 
Programs should include the views not only of scholars, cultural 
critics and public intellectuals, but also those of other professionals 
outside the university such as government officials, journalists and 
others who can substantively contribute to the topics at issue; and,
    D. Insure access to library and material resources that will enable 
grantees to continue their research, study and curriculum development 
upon returning to their home institutions.

Program Description

1. The U.S. Political System: Origin, Structure and Contemporary Issues
    This institute seeks to provide grantees with an overview of the 
U.S. political system--its Constitutional roots, its Federal structure, 
the role of

[[Page 51581]]

political parties, media, and public opinion--and, at the same time, to 
demonstrate how the institutions of the American government at the 
local, state and national levels address particular political and 
social issues confronting Americans at the beginning of the 21st 
century. The program thus aims to provide a seminar on both the 
structure and organization of the American political system and how 
that system responds to and, in turn, is influenced by the shifting 
social currents in contemporary American life. Issues that relate to 
contemporary debates in such areas as the competing roles of Federal, 
state and local government, voting and electoral reform issues, urban 
and regional development, race relations, immigration, multi-
culturalism and ethnicity, the environment, crime, and education 
represent some of the areas that would be suitable topics for 
investigation. The strongest proposals will be imaginatively integrated 
in such a way that the structure of the American political system and 
the contemporary debates within American society serve to illuminate 
each other, thus providing insights into the nature of American 
institutions and values, broadly defined.
2. The Cultural Geography of the United States: American Regions
    This institute seeks to acquaint foreign scholars with the 
diversity of the American landscape and the complexity of American 
society and culture through the lens of cultural geography. The 
program's aim is to examine at least three separate and distinct 
regions of the United States with reference to each region's respective 
history and culture, political experience, economic development, social 
and ethnic composition, artistic and literary heritage. An overriding 
purpose of the program will be to explore how particular geographic 
regions of the United States are representative of the national 
experience, taken as a whole, and, at the same time, how they reflect a 
separate and distinct identity that differs from the whole in 
significant ways. For each region, the program should thus explore the 
competing claims of regional and national identity through an approach 
that provides a balance between contemporary issues and their 
historical antecedents; and it should do so through a variety of 
disciplinary perspectives. Overall, proposals should offer a scholarly 
program whose various elements serve to give participants an 
understanding of the complexity, the unity, and the diversity of the 
American experience.
3. The United States Through Literature: Content and Method in American 
Studies
    This program on the literature, history and society of the United 
States is designed to assist faculty from overseas colleges and 
universities who are seeking to establish or enhance programs that 
focus on American literature and civilization at their home 
institutions. Some grantees will have limited experience in the 
teaching of U.S. subjects. Because most participants will come from 
departments of language and literature, the institute should explore 
themes in American civilization using literature and literary studies 
as the primary disciplinary vehicle. At the same time, the program's 
literary focus should be sufficiently interdisciplinary or multi-
disciplinary in scope to allow grantees to explore broad themes in the 
history, society and culture of the United States. Primary works of 
literature should thus be supplemented not only by background readings 
in literary history and criticism, but also by the writings of 
historians, political scientists, and sociologists, as they relate to 
the overarching themes of the program. While the broad sweep of the 
U.S. experience should be considered, proportionately more time should 
be given to 20th century literature, including contemporary writers. 
Finally, proposals should address curricular issues of how overseas 
institutions might choose to organize an American studies program 
outside the United States in terms of both content and organization. 
This aspect of the proposal should present a variety of curricular 
models that can be employed to study the United States, ranging from 
traditional disciplinary approaches to the study of the U.S., to 
interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches, to foreign area 
studies models. The best proposals will offer a program that in its 
overall design and scope is itself a model of how to pursue 
interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary scholarly investigation into 
American life and institutions, past and present.
    Program Dates: Ideally, the program will begin in mid to late June. 
The Bureau is willing to consider other dates, based on the needs of 
the host institution. However, the institute must be 42 program days in 
length and should take place sometime between June 1 and August 27, 
2000.
    Participants: Programs should be designed for a total of 18 highly-
motivated and experienced foreign university faculty who are interested 
in participating in an intensive seminar on aspects of U.S. 
civilization as a means to develop or improve courses and teaching 
about the United States at their home institutions. Most participants 
can be expected to come from educational institutions where the study 
of the U.S. is relatively well-developed. Thus, while they may not have 
in-depth knowledge of the particular institute program theme, most will 
have had some experience in teaching about the United States. Many will 
have had sustained professional contact with American scholars and 
American scholarship, and some may have had substantial prior 
experience studying in the U.S. Participants will be drawn from all 
regions of the world and will be fluent in English.
    Participants will be nominated by Fulbright Commissions and by U.S. 
Embassies abroad. Nominations will be reviewed by the Branch for the 
Study of the U.S. Final selection of grantees will be made by the 
Fulbright Scholarship Board.

Program Guidelines

    While the conception and structure of the institute program is the 
responsibility of the organizers, it is critically important that 
proposals provide a full, detailed and comprehensive narrative 
describing the objectives of the institute, the subject of each 
session, and how each individual session relates to the overall 
institute theme. The syllabus must therefore indicate the subject 
matter for each lecture or panel discussion, confirm or provisionally 
identify proposed lecturers and discussants, and clearly show how 
assigned readings will support each session. A calendar of all 
activities for the program must also be included. Overall, proposals 
will be reviewed on the basis of their fullness, coherence, clarity, 
and attention to detail.
    Programs must comply with J-1 visa regulations. Please refer to the 
Solicitation Package for further details on program design and 
implementation, as well as additional information on all other 
requirements.

Budget Guidelines

    Unless special circumstances warrant, based on a group of 18 
participants, the total Bureau-funded budget (program and 
administrative) should not exceed $172,000, and Bureau-funded 
administrative costs as defined in the budget details section of the 
solicitation package should not exceed $51,000. Justifications for any 
costs above these amounts must be clearly indicated in the proposal 
submission. Any grants awarded to eligible organizations with less than 
four years of experience in

[[Page 51582]]

conducting international exchange programs will be limited to $60,000. 
Applicant proposals should try to maximize cost-sharing in all facets 
of the program and to stimulate U.S. private sector, including 
foundation and corporate, support. Applicants must submit a 
comprehensive budget for the entire program. The Bureau reserves the 
right to reduce, revise, or increase proposal budgets in accordance 
with the needs of the program, and availability of U.S. government 
funding.
    Please refer to the ``POGI'' in the Solicitation Package for 
complete institute budget guidelines and formatting instructions.

Announcement Name and Number

    All communications with the Bureau concerning this announcement 
should refer to the following titles and reference numbers:

1. Summer Institute on the U.S. Political System: Origin, Structure and 
Contemporary Issues, (E/AES-00-01-Dardeli)
2. Summer Institute on the Cultural Geography of the United States: 
American Regions, (E/AES-00-02-Dardeli)
3. Summer Institute on the United States Through Literature: Content 
and Method in American Studies, (E/AES-00-03-Taylor)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: To request a Solicitation Package containing 
more detailed award criteria, required application forms, specific 
budget instructions, and standard guidelines for proposal preparation, 
applicants should contact: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of 
Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of Academic Exchange Programs, 
Study of the U.S. Branch, E/AES--Room 252, 301 4th Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20547, Attention: Richard Taylor, Telephone number: 
(202) 619-4557, Fax number: (202) 619-6790, Internet address: 
[email protected].
    Please specify Senior Program Officer Richard Taylor on all 
inquiries and correspondence. Interested applicants should read the 
complete Federal Register announcement before addressing inquiries to 
the office listed above or submitting their proposals. Once the RFP 
deadline has passed, Bureau staff may not discuss this competition in 
any way with applicants until after the proposal review process has 
been completed.
    To Download a Solicitation Package via Internet: The entire 
Solicitation Package may be downloaded from the Bureau's website at 
http://e.usia.gov/education/rfps/. Please read all information before 
downloading.

Deadline for Proposals

    All proposal copies must be received at the Bureau of Educational 
and Cultural Affairs by 5:00 p.m. Washington, DC time on Friday, 
January 14, 2000. Faxed documents will not be accepted, not will 
documents postmarked January 14, 2000 but received at a later date. It 
is the responsibility of each applicant to ensure that proposal 
submissions arrive by the deadline.
    Submissions: Applicants must follow all instructions in the 
Solicitation Package. The original and 13 copies of the complete 
application should be sent to: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of 
Educational and Cultural Affairs, Reference: (insert appropriate 
reference number from above, e.g. E/AES-00-xx-xxxxxx) Program 
Management Staff, ECA/EX/PM, Room 336, 301 4th Street, SW, Washington, 
DC 20547.
    Applicants should also submit the ``Executive Summary'' and 
``Proposal Narrative'' sections of the proposal on a 3.5'' diskette, 
formatted for DOS. This material must be provided in ASCII text (DOS) 
format with a maximum line length of 65 characters.

Diversity, Freedom and Democracy Guidelines

    Pursuant to the Bureau's authorizing legislation, programs must 
maintain a non-political character and should be balanced and 
representative of the diversity of American political, social, and 
cultural life. ``Diversity'' should be interpreted in the broadest 
sense and encompass differences including, but not limited to 
ethnicity, race, gender, religion, geographic location, socio-economic 
status, and physical challenges. Applicants are strongly encouraged to 
adhere to the advancement of this principle both in program 
administration and in program content. Please refer to the review 
criteria under the ``Support for Diversity'' section for specific 
suggestions on incorporating diversity into the total proposal. Public 
Law 104-319 provides that ``in carrying out programs of educational and 
cultural exchange in countries whose people do not fully enjoy freedom 
and democracy,'' USIA ``shall take appropriate steps to provide 
opportunities for participation in such programs to human rights and 
democracy leaders of such countries.'' Proposals should reflect 
advancement of this goal in their program contents, to the full extent 
deemed feasible.

Year 2000 Compliance Requirement (Y2K Requirement)

    The Year 2000 (Y2K) issue is a broad operational and accounting 
problem that could potentially prohibit organization from processing 
information in accordance with Federal management and program-specific 
requirements, including data exchange with the Bureau. The inability to 
process information in accordance with Federal requirements could 
result in grant recipients being required to return funds that have not 
been accounted for properly.
    The Bureau therefore requires that all organizations use Y2K 
compliant systems, including hardware, software, and firmware. Systems 
must accurately process data and dates (calculating, comparing and 
sequencing) both before and after the beginning of the year 2000 and 
correcting adjust for leap years.
    Additionally information addressing the Y2K issued may be found at 
the General Services Administration's Office of Information Technology 
website at http://www.itpolicy.gsa.gov.

Review Process

    The Bureau will acknowledge receipt of all proposals and will 
review them for technical eligibility. Proposals will be deemed 
ineligible if they do not fully adhere to the guidelines stated herein 
and in the Solicitation Package. All eligible proposals will be 
reviewed by the program office. Eligible proposals will then be 
forwarded to panels to senior Bureau officers for advisory review. 
Proposals may also be reviewed by the Office of the Legal Advisor or by 
other Bureau elements. Final funding decisions are at the discretion of 
the Department of State's Assistant Secretary for Educational and 
Cultural Affairs. Final technical authority for assistance awards 
(grants or cooperative agreements) resides with the Bureau's Grant 
Officer.

Review Criteria

    Technically eligible applications will be competitively reviewed 
according to the criteria stated below. Particular weight will be given 
to items one and two.
1. Overall Quality
    Proposals should exhibit originality and substance, consonant with 
the highest standards of American teaching and scholarship. Program 
design should reflect the main currents as well as the debates within 
the subject discipline of each institute. Program should reflect an 
overall design whose various elements are coherently and thoughtfully 
integrated. Lectures, panels, field visits

[[Page 51583]]

and readings, taken as a whole, should offer a balanced presentation of 
issues, reflecting both the continuity of the American experience as 
well as the diversity and dynamism inherent in it.
2. Program Planning and Administration
    Proposals should demonstrate careful planning. The organization and 
structure of the institute should be clearly delineated and be fully 
responsive to all program objectives. A program syllabus (noting 
specific sessions and topical readings supporting each academic unit) 
should be included, as should a calendar of activities. The travel 
component should not simply be a tour, but should be an integral and 
substantive part of the program, reinforcing and complementing the 
academic segment. Proposals should provide evidence of continuous 
administrative and managerial capacity as well as the means by which 
program activities and logistical matters will be implemented.
3. Institutional Capacity
    Proposed personnel, including faculty and administrative staff as 
well as outside presenters, should be fully qualified to achieve the 
project's goals. Library and meeting facilities, housing, meals, 
transportation and other logistical arrangements should fully meet the 
needs of the participants.
4. Support for Diversity
    Substantive support of the Bureau's policy on diversity should be 
demonstrated. This can be accomplished through documentation, such as a 
written statement, summarizing past and/or on-going activities and 
efforts that further the principle of diversity within the organization 
and its activities. Program activities that address this issue should 
be highlighted.
5. Experience
    Proposals should demonstrate an institutional record of successful 
exchange program activity, indicating the experience that the 
organization and its professional staff have had in working with 
foreign educators.
6. Evaluation and Follow-up
    A plan for evaluating activities during the Institute and at its 
conclusion should be included. Proposals should discuss provisions made 
for follow-up with returned grantees as a means of establishing longer-
term individual and institutional linkages.
7. Cost Effectiveness
    Proposals should maximize cost-sharing through direct institutional 
contributions, in-kind support, and other private sector support. 
Overhead and administrative components, including salaries and 
honoraria, should be kept as low as possible.

Authority

    Overall grant making authority for this program is contained in the 
Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, Public Law 87-
256, as amended, also known as the Fulbright-Hays Act. The purpose of 
the Act is to enable the Government of the United States to increase 
mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the 
people of other countries; to strengthen the ties which unite us with 
other nations by demonstrating the educational and cultural interests, 
developments, and achievements of the people of the United States and 
other nations and thus to assist in the development of friendly, 
sympathetic and peaceful relations between the United States and the 
other countries of the world.

Notice

    The terms and conditions published in this RFP are binding and may 
not be modified by any Bureau representative. Explanatory information 
provided by the Bureau that contradicts published language will not be 
binding. Issuance of this RFP does not constitute an award commitment 
on the part of the Government. The Bureau reserves the right to reduce, 
revise, or increase proposal budgets in accordance with the needs of 
the program and the availability of funds. Awards made will be subject 
to periodic reporting and evaluation requirements.

Notification

    Final awards cannot be made until funds have been appropriated by 
Congress, and allocated and committed through internal Bureau 
procedures.

    Dated: September 17, 1999.
William P. Kiehl,
Acting Deputy Associate Director for Educational and Cultural Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-24790 Filed 9-22-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8230-01-M