Texas Southern University in Houston has entered into an agreement with the government of China to establish a Confucius Institute on the TSU campus. There are more than 300 Confucius Institutes worldwide and 80 are in the United States. Universities and school systems that establish a Confucius Institute receive support to develop Chinese language and cultural courses. Texas Southern University will partner with Beijing Jiaotong University, the premier Chinese university in the field of technology.

The Confucius Institute will be located on the third floor of  the Martin Luther King Jr. Center of Humanities. The building is fully equipped with computer labs, language labs, multi-functional auditoriums, and classrooms that support teaching with new technologies in fields of liberal arts and communication.

Danille Taylor, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences at Texas Southern University, stated, “At the base of Chinese language study, are plans to establish courses on Chinese civilization, to organize summer camps for local schools with Chinese themes, and allow students the opportunity to participate in local multicultural activities before visiting China. The plan also calls for the promotion of short-term overseas study and student scholarship programs to provide better opportunities for our students to learn Chinese language and culture.”

Dr. Taylor is a graduate of Princeton University. She holds a master’s degree in African American studies from Boston University and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American civilization from Brown University.