UNC Chapel Hill’s Carolina Asia Center to Close
CHAPEL HILL, NC—The Carolina Asia Center (CAC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) will cease to exist as a distinct unit as of June 30, 2026. The decision to close it, along with the other five standalone Area Studies Centers was “part of a broader package of budget cuts affecting many centers and institutes across campus,” according an April 1 message from James W.C. White, Craver Family Dean, College of Arts and Sciences. He added, “Many aspects of this new hub are still being developed and will come together over the next several months.”
The key, ongoing activities of the CAC and the five other area studies centers will be carried forward by a new unit: the International Program for Scholarship, Innovation, Training and Education, or INSITE. It will continue to be housed in the FedEx Global Education Center.
The CAC has been UNC’s flagship Asia institute since 2002 and a leading center of its kind in the southeastern United States. Its mission is to promote intercultural exchange between the U.S. and Asia, and to improve and support education and research on Asia. The CAC supports students and faculty at UNC, and partners around the state of North Carolina to positively transform their understanding of and relationship with Asia.
The CAC also develops resources for engagement with Asia-related topics through seminars, language study, outreach, cultural competency, study abroad and visiting scholars programs. Beyond Carolina, the CAC collaborates with regional and international institutions to develop educational programs that focus on Asia.
CAC leadership posted the following on its web site:
“Please know that even though the work on Asia will be under a new infrastructure and mandate, it will continue. Although our team will regrettably be leaner, our remaining staff will continue to support students and faculty in their study, research, and teaching about Asia, to the greatest extent possible. The CAC programs that are to be continued in the new unit include the visiting scholars’ program, the Bringing Southeast Asia Home initiative (supported by a Henry Luce Foundation grant through summer 2027), and other programs supported by secure funding: the Teaching Asia Network of the Carolinas (TANC), Modern Indian Studies (MIS) initiative, and the Koneru R. Rao and Mahatma Gandhi Fellowships.”