"TICFIA exists to support teaching and research in international education and foreign languages. It is a unique program that funds projects for improving access to foreign information resources through cooperation with overseas institutions and delivery of those resources using current technologies. Twenty-eight funded projects since TICFIA's inception in 1998 have demonstrated the wisdom of Congress in establishing the new program."

(James Nye, University of Chicago

The University of New Mexico will host the 2007 TICFIA Grantee Conference. The purpose of this annual conference is to bring together representatives from ten currently funded TICFIA projects and special guests. TICFIA attendees will have a chance to scrutinize progress in their individual projects and present strategies for linking their own projects with the goal of ensuring mutual support and enhancing future collaborations. Their participation will be strengthened by special sessions devoted to critical and challenging themes. Discussions will be opened by speakers and faculty members from renowned scientific institutions. Themes such as challenges in accessing international information for research and concerns on accessing information within an international frame of cultural diversity are considered pivotal to the discussion promoted in this Conference in order to empower the TICFIA projects perspective and performance. The TICFIA 2007 National Conference is in the second year of the current TICFIA program cycle. The 2007 Conference is planned to consolidate and develop the impressive outputs and recommendations of its predecessor, the TICFIA 2006 Michigan Conference. The 2007 TICFIA Conference will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on April 19th and April 20th, 2007. The city of Albuquerque is located in the middle of the state of New Mexico, known as "The Land of Enchantment", due its extraordinary environmental and cultural diversity. More Information about the city can be found at the area guide and the Los Angeles Times article. All the activities will take place at the UNM Student Union Building (SUB). It will start on Thursday morning, April 19, and will conclude on Friday afternoon, April 20, 2007. A reception is scheduled for Thursday evening, April 19 and an Annual Participant's Dinner is scheduled for Friday evening. Transportation will be provided between the Conference hotel and the campus.

Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access (TICFIA)

The purpose of Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access (TICFIA) Program is to support projects for fostering innovative techniques or programs using new electronic technologies for collecting information from foreign sources. This program provides grants to institutions of higher education, public or nonprofit libraries or combinations of these institutions or libraries to develop techniques or programs using new electronic technologies to access, collect, organize, preserve and widely disseminate information on world regions and countries other than the US. This activities address in innovative and collaborative manner our Nation's teaching and research needs in international education and foreign languages. Information on Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information Access Program is available at: http://www.ed.gov/programs/iegpsticfia/index.html Information about currently-funded and past TICFIA projects can be accessed at: http://www.crl.edu/areastudies/ticfia/index.html