this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message american center for mongolian studies type academic not for profit founded 2002 headquarters philadelphia usa ulaanbaatar mongolia key people william fitzhugh president of the board of directors charles krusekopf founder and executive director david dettmann director of us office marc tass resident director of mongolia office website http www.mongoliacenter.org the american center for mongolian studies acms is a us registered 501 c 3 not for profit academic organization which promotes research and scholarship in inner asia a broad region consisting of mongolia and parts of china russia and central asia including inner mongolia xinjiang buryatia tuva and eastern kazakhstan . international academic activities in inner asia are often conducted within the confines of particular disciplines because opportunities for discussing and sharing cross discipline research are rare . as a result research produced within one discipline is not readily available to researchers of other disciplines and this creates circumstances in which valuable knowledge about mongolia and inner asia is underutilized . the american center for mongolian studies was established in order to facilitate and coordinate the various multi discipline research activities occurring each year in the region . it is a consortium of more than 30 academic and cultural institutions in north america and inner asia including the national university of mongolia the smithsonian institution western washington university the university of wisconsin indiana university university of california berkeley and university of pennsylvania . although similar in some respects to the mongolia society at indiana university the acms is the only us based mongolian studies and inner asia focused academic and research organization operating a permanent office in mongolia . contents 1 history 2 governance 3 officers 4 membership 5 logo 6 activities 7 research 8 books for mongolia program 9 library access 10 references 11 external links history edit the acms was incorporated in 2002 in austin texas and established its home office at austin college . it moved its home office to western washington university in 2003 and opened its mongolia office in 2004 which is currently housed in the school of foreign affairs at the national university of mongolia . from the fall of 2009 to spring 2014 the university of wisconsin madison center for east asian studies provided logistical support for the home office . in 2014 the acms moved offices to the center for east asian studies at the university of pennsylvania . mongolian studies scholars and discipline based mongolian researchers were instrumental in the establishment of the acms and the united states department of education united states embassy in mongolia and council for american overseas research centers caorc contributed significant financial resources to establish and operate the acms mongolia office . in november 2013 the acms mongolia office moved to its current location inside the east entrance of natsagdorj library in ulaanbaatar . governance edit a board of directors comprising one representative from each member institution and board members at large elected by acms individual members oversees the activities of the acms and provides guidance in addressing research issues in inner asia . it is governed by officers nominated and elected to two year terms by the board itself . these officer positions include president vice president for external relations vice president for member services treasurer and secretary . the board of directors also appoints the executive staff which supervises the daily operations of the organization . this executive staff includes the executive director of the acms resident director of the acms mongolia office and deputy director of the acms mongolia office . officers edit president william fitzhugh smithsonian institution vice president for external relations dr. paula depriest smithsonian institution vice president for member services dr. julian dierkes university of british columbia treasurer dr. meredith giordano international water management institute secretary dr. elizabeth endicott middlebury college membership edit the center is a member of the council of american overseas research centers . 1 the organization has over 30 institutional members which include universities museums and other not for profit educational or cultural organizations . in addition the acms has over 300 individual members and sponsors . logo edit the logo is derived from the mongolian soyombo symbol the symbol on the national flag of mongolia . activities edit promoting research and scholarship in inner asia is the stated goal of the acms . it organizes and conducts international conferences provides fellowships to student researchers cooperates with local libraries to improve access to materials and produces informational resources about academic activities in inner asia . it provides logistical support to individual researchers and institutions such as the smithsonian institution and united states geological survey . in addition it organizes regular public lectures the speaker series in ulaanbaatar which are given by mongolian and international scholars on various research topics . research edit mongolia was overlooked in much of the congressional spending legislation produced in the post soviet era such as the fulbright hays title viii program . as a consequence direct us government support for the field of mongolian studies dwindled relative to other area studies throughout the 1990s and institutional support for discipline based research in mongolia was not well organized . in spite of this between 1990 and 2003 over 70 phd dissertations and masters theses were written at us universities about topics related to mongolia or involving mongolia as the context of the research . the acms was founded with the intention of providing the institutional support to address these resources issues and organize research produced in the region . books for mongolia program edit in november 2013 the asia foundation signed a partnership agreement for the management of the books for asia mongolia program with acms . acms operates the program under the title books for mongolia . the books for asia program is a popular program which leads in the region with book donation initiatives . books for asia puts one million brand new books into the hands of students educators and local and national leaders in 19 countries annually . in mongolia over 800 000 books and textbooks have been donated and distributed to schools kindergartens universities libraries and government and non government organizations throughout mongolia since 1990 . books for mongolia will continue to provide a world of information and opportunity to mongolians by providing new and high quality english language books to organisations throughout mongolia . library access edit library resources of significant research value are difficult to access in mongolia . inconsistent business hours inaccessible catalogs and poor research environments occasionally produce insurmountable barriers for researchers . the acms provides logistical support to researchers in order to gain access to collections that individuals may not be able to access on their own . in addition the acms maintains its own library of mongolian studies and discipline based academic materials which is open to the public . it is also a participating member of the local libraries and archives project under the guidance of the american institute for yemeni studies aiys and the council of american overseas research centers caorc with funding support from the us department of education technological innovation and cooperation for foreign information access ticfia program which aims to increase digital access to foreign library resources through the digital library for international research . references edit american overseas research centers . council of american overseas research centers . retrieved 2012 03 28 . external links edit american center for mongolian studies www.mongoliacenter.org american center for mongolian studies library website mongoliacenter.org library mongolia society www.mongoliasociety.org indiana university www.indiana.edu western washington university www.wwu.edu council for american overseas research centers www.caorc.org american institute for yemeni studies www.aiys.org digital library for international research www.dlir.org ticfia www.crl.edu areastudies ticfia index.html local libraries and archives project www.aodl.org ticfia conference local.php retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title american center for mongolian studies & oldid 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