For nearly 12 years, thanks to the leadership of Director Michele Heryford and dedicated staff and volunteers, CI-Pitt has placed scholars from China in local schools and colleges to support Chinese language instruction. During this time, the program has created a conduit to the broader world and opportunities for social mobility through language acquisition while benefiting more than 36,000 students in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York.
As a direct result of this program, 28 school districts across 22 counties now offer permanent Chinese language classes, and the impact of CI-Pitt continues to seed programs and interest in China, Chinese studies and Chinese language.
Despite these successes, the CI-Pitt program has experienced increasing scrutiny by U.S. federal agencies. Notwithstanding our best efforts in political and legal circles, restrictions have impeded the University’s capacity to effectively maintain our role in this partnership. Therefore, I regret to inform you that CI-Pitt has closed effective June 30, 2020.
With this development on record, it is worth reiterating that the University of Pittsburgh remains deeply committed to many other successful programs and partnerships in supporting instruction about China and East Asia. For example, our award-winning National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) National Coordinating Site (https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/ncta/) provides free seminars, instructional support, and other materials for classroom use in many different venues. We hope you will make use of the NCTA resources to develop new curriculum and educational opportunities for your students.
