Hundreds of centers and institutes, focusing on everything from gender and sexuality issues to religion and ethnicity, exist at universities and colleges across the country.

HOME-GROWN STUDIES

Established fields of academic study that began as smaller conference clusters, areas of faculty interest and newly founded institutes:   • Cave and karst studies at Western Kentucky University   • Native American studies at Northern Kentucky University   • Appalachian studies and Judaic studies at University of Kentucky   • Pan-African studies at the University of Louisville   • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual studies at Duke University   • Hellenic studies and Middle Eastern studies at New York University   Source: University Web sites

        Programs such as women's studies and African-American studies, now firmly established at most higher education institutions, had similar beginnings — an idea held by a few academicians that a field needed more attention.

        The new Institute for Freedom Studies at Northern Kentucky University may someday have the status of a major field of study, said director Prince Brown Jr.

        “That's a possibility, but all of this is so new,” he said. “It takes several years.”

        Mr. Brown said new areas of study start through a faculty initiative, in which academicians must articulate their ideas to others.

        Next, a conference is usually conducted to attract nationwide interest.

        “The Borderline Conference: The Underground Railroad in the Middle Ohio River Valley,” was held at NKU in early May.

        Orloff Miller, a director at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, said the conference was successful in gaining support from the academic community.

        “What we are finding is that the Underground Railroad is gaining in the popular consciousness,” Mr. Miller said.

        Studies and institutes build a foundation from conferences, slowly establishing classes, faculty positions, minors, majors and sometimes even departments.

        Grants from federal and state governments, like the $920,000 in federal education funds allocated to the Institute for Freedom Studies, are also important in building a new discipline of study.

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