# What, exactly, is a Center?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-center/747680>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 1, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-center/747680 "2016-03-01T20:02:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-center/747680/21 "2016-03-03T10:01:46Z")

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50+j0 ohms on a Smith chart. I’ve been looking at a lot of those lately.

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**Author:** ![polistra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9de053/32.png) [@polistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polistra)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-center/747680/22 "2016-03-03T13:54:35Z")

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In the academic context, a Center is usually an office that brings together professors and researchers from several departments to work on a trendy subject. In a few cases these Centers grow into a separate department with its own building. Usually they fade after working through a few Multi-Disciplinary grants.

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**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-a-center/747680/23 "2016-03-03T14:56:51Z")

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> [@Terminus\_Est](#):
>
> Yes, but the Centers for Disease Control [and Prevention] was previously named the Center for Disease Control. So what made it plural, aside from an act of Congress?

I assume the act of Congress followed the establishment of at least some of the more specific centers that today make up the CDC, such as the:  
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID)  
and  
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP)

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