About the Inner Asian and Uralic
National Resource Center
In 1962, IU 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 Center’s area: Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Mongolian, Persian/Tajik, Tibetan, Turkish and Uzbek. Other living and classical languages of Central Eurasia are offered less frequently, including Chagatai, Evenki, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mordvin, Tibetan, Turkmen, and Uyghur.
The Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center offers a strong interdisciplinary training program for students interested in the languages and societies of Central Eurasia. Undergraduates can earn a certificate or an individualized major in Central Eurasian Studies. The Center also trains future specialists through its M.A. and Ph.D. degree programs, which have placed graduates in prestigious positions in education, business and industry, and government—both in the US and abroad.
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. IU’s other specialized collections contain another 35,000 items relevant to the Center’s area. The Center continues to build its collections, while also making them more accessible to patrons across the country.
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. Center faculty also have an outstanding record of service to government, business, philanthropic organizations, as well as to other post-secondary institutions. In addition, many of the Center’s most successful outreach activities enable us to share our resources with the general public and build a broad awareness of the increasingly important world area on which we focus.
