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The Global Center for Advanced Studies (GCAS) is a non-profit, fully licensed institute of higher education organized under the laws of the state of Michigan USA to provide graduate and post-graduate courses, advanced research opportunities, and professional development. The GCAS is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan USA. It is governed by a board of directors, which consists of two co-founders/co-directors, a president, a vice-president, and a treasurer. Additional administration is provided by an Academic Dean, a European partnership coordinator and a North American partnership coordinator.

History
The Global Center for Advanced Studies (GCAS) was originally incorporated in the state of Colorado USA on August 22, 2013, by Creston C. Davis      as a critical theory-based institute of higher learning, and on the concept of academic freedom, equality in education, and social justice. Jason (M.) Adams joined GCAS on September 23, 2013 as co-founder and co-director. to develop the media platform and interactive online course format which distinguishes the GCAS online learning environment through live collaboration between lecturers, professors, students and researchers. . The GCAS was subsequently relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan USA and incorporated in Michigan on November 27, 2013 as a non-proft institute of higher learning, and fully licensed to provide undergraduate and graduate-level educational courses and institutes. The Colorado corporation was voluntarily dissolved on February 26, 2014. The GCAS Michigan non-profit corporation retains an affiliate status with the Colorado corporation, but is a separate nonprofit entity pending 501(c)3 approval under the IRS Code.

Partnering Institutions
The Global Center for Advanced Studies (GCAS) has five levels of institutional partnerships available to its students/researcehrs through which they can partner for full degrees or diplomas after successful completion of certified courses from the GCAS; (1) Full Institutional Partnership (FIP); (2) Partial Institutional Partnership (PIP); (3) Departmental Level Partnership (DLP); (4) Venue Level Partnership (VLP); and (5) Professor Level Partnership (PLP). .

The GCAS holds a Institutional Partnerships (FIP) with: The European Graduate School (EGS), Saas-Fee, Switzerland and The Institute of Social Sciences and the Humanties (ISSH)], Skopje, Macedonia. , 17, Intituto de Edtudios Criticos, Mexico City, Mexico,, and The Existential Psychoanalytic Institute (EPIS), Missoula, Montana USA.

Academics
The GCAS degree-paths include: Critical Philosophy, Policy Studies, Media Studies, Critical Theology, Global Studies, Critical Pedagogy, Sports Studies and Science Studies. GCAS also provides advanced research opportunities and professional development for junior faculty. Seminars and courses are presented by both founding faculty and guest lecturers who are leading scholars in their specific fields of research.

Programs of Study
The GCAS offers an integrative program of study focused in three main areas of academic development:

1. The GCAS academic program is designed to provide coursework leading to graduate degrees, as well as advanced research opportunities for graduate, post-graduate, and junior faculty in interdisciplinary areas such as critical philosophy, critical pedagogy, media studies, gender studies, literary theory, race studies, critical theology, cultural studies, ethnic studies, global studies, science studies, political economy and policy studies, among others.

2. Internships include investigative journalism, radio broadcasting, book publishing, higher education teaching, and higher education management, among other fields.

3. Study abroad: The GCAS integrates critical analysis of great works of literature, philosophy, politics, and economics with travel to various worldwide locations to provide in-residence opportunities to all students and to broaden global awareness and social consciousness.

The GCAS academic structure consists of both online and in-residence courses. The required pre-requisite critical theory courses required of all diploma or certificate-seeking GCAS students are offered online in a live, interactive format with weekly or bi-weekly lecturers, depending on the course. They are offered in parts a, b and c to form the three-module required course. These students then attend in-residence intensive Summer Institutes in their field of interest. These courses are also available as a standalone course for junior faculty members seeking professional development opportunities, as well as non-credit seeking students and the general public without any additional requirements.

In addition to the online courses, week-long institutes are also held at various locations worldwide at various times of the year. These institute are made accessible to all GCAS students/researchers via Google Hangouts and YouTube broadcasts of the live event(s).

The GCAS provides a flexible academic program, which provides students the opportunity to create their own degree focus by choosing between several different institutes and seminar courses. Because of the broad academic and research specialization of its faculty, students also have opportunity for independent studies and internships across a broad landscape of specialties.

Classes use a hybrid online/offline platform to engage lecturers, students, researchers, and faculty in an interactive and collaborative learning environment. Students have opportunity to interact directly with course lectures through live discussion with the lecturers and other students, and to participate in each class from various global locations across time zones. All courses are recorded in full and available on YouTube video for review by students.

Degree Paths
The GCAS offers coursework and research opportunities leading to Masters and Doctoral degrees. A Bachelor Degree program is under development.

The GCAS has negotiated issuance of degrees with its Full Institutional Partners (FIP): The European Graduate School (EGS) and the Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (ISSH). GCAS-issued degrees are fully exchangeable with one of the FIPs for an internationally-accredited B.A., M.A. or Ph.D. degrees, and undergraduate and graduate-level diplomas and certificates, accomplished according to a variable, negotiated, per-credit hour equivalency exchange

Upon full academic accreditation, the GCAS/partner institution transfer credit degree will be fully and retroactively exchangeable for a GCAS fully-accredited, autonomous BA, MA or PhD degree. GCAS, as a newly founded institution of higher learning, anticipates receiving accreditation by 2016 or 2017.

Scholarships and Fellowships
In fulfillment of its mission to provide a high-quality, debt-free educational opportunity, GCAS offers affordable tuition to all and a variety of scholarships that range in support from a full-degree scholarship to single course scholarships. GCAS also offers graduate, post-graduate and faculty fellowships.

Faculty
The faculty of The Global Center for Advanced Studies is composed of world renowned critical theorists and lecturers. The founding faculty is as follows:

Jason Adams,    Vidhu Aggarwal, Alain Badiou, , Gopal Balakrishnan, Daniel Coluccielo Barber, Roy Bhaskar, Agata Bielik-Robson, Ward Blanton, Kevin Boileau, Elias Bongmba. Bruno Bosteels, Arianna Bove, Rosi Braidotti, Paul Levi Bryant, Drew Burk, John D. Caputo, Paolo Cascone, Ania Chromik, Joan Copjec, Simon Critchley, Clayton Crockett, Creston C. Davis,       Arif Dirlik, Enrique Dussel, Farhang Erfani, Bracha Ettinger, Tom Eyers, Cameron Freeman, Rocco Gangle, Antonio Garcia, Priyamvada Gopal, Evan Gottlieb, Adam Graves, Mike Grimshaw, Andrej Grubacic, Dave Hale, Michael Hardt, Azfar Hussain, Michael D. Jackson, Jan Jagodzinski, Adrian Johnston, Richard Kearney, Katerina Kolozova, Francois Laruelle, Alvin Cheng-Hin Lim, Catherine Liu, Paul Livingston, Catherine Malabou, Jeff Malpas, John Maus, Achille Mbembe, Tracy McNulty, Cornell University, Tracy mcNulty, Professor of Romance Studies and Comparative Literature, http://romancestudies.cornell.edu/people/faculty-directory/tracy-mcnulty/ Nandita Biswas Mellamphy, John Milbank, Thomas Nail, Lisa Nakamura, Antonio Negri, Saul Newman, Dorothea Olkowski, Davide Panagia, Jussi Parrika, Marcus Pound, Prasad Pannian, Denise Prince, Jasbir Puar, Patrick Provost-Smith, Jasbir Puar, Michael O’Rourke, Kenneth Reinhard, Joshua Ramey, Carl Raschke, Jeffrey W. Robbins, Laurie Rodrigues, Peter Rollins, Avital Ronell, Duane Rouselle, Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Michael J. Shapiro, Wolfgang Schirmacher, Daniel W. Smith, Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak, Martin Strel, Kenneth Surin, Victor E. Taylor, Peter Thompson, Tzuchien Tho, Noelle Vahanian, Gianni Vattimo, Hent de Vries, Rachel K. Ward, Janell Watson, Margaret Young, Santiago Zabala, Slavoj Zizek

Publishing Imprint
GCAS Press is the official publishing imprint of The Global Center for Advanced Studies and publishes print media associated with GCAS, in partnership with existing university press, trade academic, and independent academic publishers.

GCAS’s larger publishing house, Conatus Publishing,was founded by Jason Adams, co-found/co-director of GCAS. Conatus publishes under the GCAS Press imprint and provides the digital dimension for Kindle, Nook and the web, among other digital mediums.

Notes and References
External Links
 * GCAS Website
 * GCAS Faculty
 * GCAS Degree Paths
 * GCAS-FAQ
 * GCAS Facebook