Centers and Institutes focus on domains of knowledge that reside within a discipline or are cross-disciplinary in scope.

These are organizational mechanisms that can be used to provide greater depth in teaching and/or research to a focal area within a discipline, or to apply a broader vision to problems that cross traditional knowledge boundaries.

Centers may help develop new areas of research that enhance faculty development, encourage interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches to teaching and research, provide relevant focus for service to external and internal constituencies, and/or promote sharing of resources (e.g., equipment, labs) and collaboration across departmental and college boundaries.