University of Michigan. Program for Inter-institutional Collaboration in Area Studies.

Joint program between the University of Michigan, Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Great Lakes Colleges Association to support student and faculty study and research in non-western area studies through grants, fellowships, conferences and programs.

The Program for Inter-Institutional Collaboration in Area Studies (PICAS), founded in early 1986, was a joint program between the University of Michigan, the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) and the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA). It was designed to allow students and faculty of schools within the consortia to have access to the resources of the six University of Michigan study areas (listed on following page). PICAS sponsored conferences on non-western topics both at the University of Michigan and at affiliated colleges. Research grants were available to faculty of the colleges to come to Ann Arbor. Short-term grants, typically one week, were open to students and faculty. PICAS also sponsored summer language fellowships, through which recipients received intensive instruction in a study area language. Some of the fellowship recipients were taught at Beloit College. All grants and fellowships were awarded on a competitive basis. PICAS was governed by a steering committee consisting of the project director, the executive director, the presidents of ACM and GLCA, representatives from two of the six area study centers, and two faculty members each from ACM and GLCA. PICAS was funded by a series of grants from the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. From 1985 to 1990, the Pew Memorial Trust also contributed funding to PICAS. PICAS was closed when the grants expired in September 1995.