By Adam Hartmann

Arizona Daily Wildcat

UA President Manuel T. Pacheco has been appointed to the advisory board of a federal education program, the White House announced yesterday.

The National Security Education Program is a federal program intended to encourage students from the United States to learn about Eastern European cultures and languages.

Pacheco's responsibilities on the board will include overseeing the operations of the NSEP and assisting in the development of criteria to award grants and fellowships to students interested in studying in Eastern Europe.

The board also awards grants to universities to expand and improve their foreign language and interna tional studies programs.

"I am pleased because this is going to allow me to set policy about how students and faculty learn new languages and new cultures," Pacheco said.

Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., stated in a press release that he was pleased by Pacheco's appointment.

"I have worked with him on many occasions and I have always found him to be an exceptionally intelligent and perceptive man," the release states. "I look forward to seeing the work he does for our universities and students."

Wayne Decker, the University of Arizona's associate director of international programs and representative to the NSEP, stated in another press release that the program is designed to increase the number of students studying languages abroad.

About 80 percent of American students studying abroad are in England and western Europe, and most of those students are studying the humanities or the social sciences, the release states.

"Support for this program is drawn from funds which might, in previous years, have gone to the defense and intelligence budgets," the release states.

Pacheco received his bachelor's and master's degrees from New Mexico Highlands University. He received his doctorate in foreign language education in 1969 from Ohio State University. Read Next Article