By Eileen Conrad

	Natalie and Paul Orfalea

UCSB is establishing a novel graduate program and center in global and international studies that will focus on the academic preparation of professionals to work in the global nonprofit sector as well as in international government and multinational business.

Kinko’s founder Paul Orfalea and the Orfalea Family Foundation of Santa Barbara are providing critical seed money for the new effort in the form of a recently announced, multiyear financial pledge of $500,000 annually. In tandem with the foundation’s financial commitment, the campus will dedicate faculty and facilities to meet the needs of the new program.

“As the world becomes more interconnected, we need to understand the processes and interactions that bring people together across traditional boundaries,” Orfalea said. “UC Santa Barbara will have one of the first graduate programs and centers in international studies in the nation to focus on issues of globalization.”

Currently a distinguished visiting professor in the Global and International Studies Program at UCSB, Orfalea teaches a popular course in global business.

More than 700 undergraduate students now major in global studies at UCSB. There are also 20 graduate students enrolled in doctoral programs in six academic departments that have added an emphasis in global studies.

“UCSB is extremely grateful to Paul, Natalie, and the Orfalea Family Foundation for their extraordinary contribution to global and international studies and the excellence of the campus,” said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “Their vision and commitment to create a program and center that focus on the complex issues of globalization will set the international standard for this dynamic, interdisciplinary field.”

In recognition of the support from the Orfalea Family Foundation, the new center will be named the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies. The Orfalea Center will promote global and international studies through interdisciplinary conferences, seminars, and public programs. It will also support the new graduate program in the form of student fellowships and internships, visiting professorships, and staff.

Mark Juergensmeyer, campus director of global and international studies, said he was “humbled by this extraordinary commitment and excited by the challenge to fulfill such high expectations.”

UCSB’s new graduate program, which will offer a master’s degree in global and international studies, will train students for careers in international affairs, government service, and multinational business. It will differ from other master’s degree programs in the field in both its global approach and its emphasis on the nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations working in a wide variety of areas, including environmental protection and economic development as well as human rights. The first class will enroll in the fall of 2006.

According to Gene Lucas, executive vice chancellor, the new graduate program and center are the result of a multiyear planning and review process. “This will be the first graduate program of its kind in the nation, and we are delighted that it will be at UC Santa Barbara,” said Lucas.

“This program will provide a new kind of education for a new kind of career,” explained Richard Appelbaum, professor of sociology and global studies, who chaired the planning committee for the new master’s degree. “International non-government organizations have become leaders of global civil society, and we want to help prepare the leaders for these organizations.”