About the Inner Asian & Uralic National Resource Center
In 1962, Indiana University became home to the Uralic and Altaic Language and Area Center, which in 1981 was renamed the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center (IAUNRC). For the last 40 years, IU has gathered leading specialists, impressive library collections, and other top-quality resources to create the nation's premier program in Central Eurasian Studies. It has effectively utilized these resources to provide quality training and outreach programs that continue to serve the entire country.
IU's greatest concentration of expertise and instruction is located within the Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS). CEUS and other Center faculty are specialists on civilizations stretching from the Baltics, Hungary, and Turkey to Central Asia, Tibet, and Mongolia. They pursue both historical and contemporary analysis in a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, business, comparative literature, economics, folklore, history, journalism, linguistics, music and drama, political science, public administration, and religious studies. Thanks in part to IAUNRC funds, every academic year the Department of Central Eurasian Studies offers three levels of instruction in all of the following living languages indigenous to the Centers area: Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Kazakh, Mongolian, Persian, Tajik, Tibetan, Turkish, Uyghur, and Uzbek. Other living and classical languages of Central Eurasia are offered less frequently, including Chagatai, Evenki, Kyrgyz, Manchu, Mordvin, and Turkmen.
Indiana University houses outstanding print and electronic resources for Inner Asian and Uralic studies. The main library holds 100,000 volumes on Central Eurasia, including the largest Tibetan and Estonian collections of any American university. IUs other specialized collections contain another 35,000 items relevant to the Centers area. The Center continues to build its collections, while also making them more accessible to patrons across the country.
Undergraduates can earn a certificate in Central Asian Studies from the IAUNRC.
IAUNRC's active and growing outreach program serves several vital constituencies. The Center is creating new curriculum materials for teaching about Central Eurasia at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. Faculty affiliated with the Center also have an outstanding record of service to government, business, and philanthropic organizations, as well as to other post-secondary institutions. In addition, many of the Centers most successful outreach activities enable us to share our resources with the general public and build a broad awareness of the increasingly important region on which we focus.