Op-ed: Secretary McMahon Should Consider Establishing a National Resource Center on Arctic Studies within the University of Alaska System
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon should re-evaluate and realign the National Resource Centers Program, writes researcher Michael Walsh. Here she is photographed in 2018. (Source: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, via Wikimedia Commons)
The U.S. Department of Education needs to address the geographic bias against Arctic Studies and Pacific Studies in the NRC Program. That could start with the establishment of a Center for Arctic Studies within the University of Alaska System, writes researcher Michael Walsh in this op-ed.
This is an op-ed written by an external contributor. All views expressed are the author's own.
Under the National Resource Centers (NRC) Program, the U.S. Government provides federal funding to U.S. universities to develop and maintain the necessary domestic capacity in area studies, foreign languages, and international education to achieve U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.
In the FY 2022-2025 cycle, the International Resource Information System reports that the U.S. Department of Education funded a total of 123 NRCs across the country. That includes 26 for Western Hemisphere Affairs, 15 for East Asian Affairs, 14 for Middle Eastern Affairs, and 13 for African Affairs. Those initial awards were made prior to the start of the new administration.
Since the inauguration, there has been a major shift in U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. For that reason, President Donald Trump may want to consider directing the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to re-evaluate and realign the National Resource Centers Program with the interim strategic guidance of his administration within 90 days.
Such a reevaluation and realignment could carry tremendous benefits for U.S. area studies researchers who focus on the Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific regions.
Shortly after the inauguration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear that the Western Hemisphere was the priority region for the U.S. Department of State.
A few months later, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth directed the U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Elbridge Colby, to prioritize defense of the U.S. homeland in the 2025 National Defense Strategy.
On the basis of these observations, it would appear that the NRC Program is only partly aligned with U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.
The U.S. Department of Education needs to address this geographic bias against Arctic Studies.
While it makes sense that there is a clear geographic bias toward Western Hemisphere Affairs, the U.S. Homeland extends beyond the geographic boundaries that are often drawn around that field of study.
In order to bring the NRC Program into alignment with U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, the U.S. Department of Education needs to make investments in establishing new NRCs for two regions that have long been glossed over. These are the Arctic and the Pacific Islands.
In the FY 2022-2025 cycle, the International Resource Information System reports that the U.S. Department of Education only funded one NRC for either region. That was the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
The U.S. Department of Education needs to address this geographic bias against Arctic Studies and Pacific Studies in the NRC Program. That could start with the establishment of a Center for Arctic Studies within the University of Alaska System.
As part of the re-evaluation and realignment of the NRC Program, the U.S. Department of Education should not only re-evaluate the past performance of existing recipients, including on-time performance reporting. It should critically examine whether the subregional bias in their activities supports current national priorities.
According to President Trump, one of those national priorities is Greenland.
In May, President Trump declared that the United States needs “Greenland for national security and international security,” and so his administration will “go as far as we have to go” to get control over it.
One of those national priorities is Greenland.
Given that Greenland is such a strategic priority for the White House, it is remarkable that it is not a strategic priority for the NRC Program.
Secretary McMahon has a couple of options to fix that problem.
First, Secretary McMahon could direct her staff to put pressure on existing NRCs to provide more programming on Icelandic and Greenlandic Affairs. Second, she could direct them to prioritize the establishment of a Center for North Atlantic Islands Studies.
One would assume that the second option would be welcomed by the University of Maine and the University of New Hampshire. Both would be in a good position to host such a center.
Note: The U.S. Department of Education was asked to comment but did not respond to that request.
