CAS NEWSLETTER
Spring 2018 Asian Studies CLAC Pilot Progam Faculty Updates CAS Affiliates Student News and More Leadership Circle Alumni Updates News We’ve launched an Our faculty are busy as Learn about the Recognizing the innovative CLAC usual, working on activities of the Help us celebrate our See our support we receive from program this year. Asia-related research, Program for Teaching outstanding fellowship online our wonderful donors. publishing, and East Asia, American recipients and Asian news- Page 3 lecturing around the Association of Teachers Studies graduates, and letter Page 2 world. Catch them if of Japanese, and Tibet see where Asian studies for a summary of our you can! Himalaya Initiative. has taken alumni in 2017 events. their careers. Page 4-5 Page 6-7 www.colorado.edu/ Back Cover cas/news-events/ news/newsletters/
on campus, as well as new SE Asian study While Asian Studies is thriving here, this Dear Friends of CAS, abroad opportunities. We have also remains a challenging time for area Asian Studies is thriving at the University implemented an innovative ‘Cultures and studies more broadly. My colleagues in of Colorado! 2017 brought a new crop of Languages Across the Hong Kong, for instance, are genuinely fantastic Asianists to our faculty, Curriculum’ (CLAC) program, with the worried about the implications, in Asia, of including Jae Won Chung (Assistant help of a grant from the College of Arts & a more inward-looking United States. To Professor of Korean in Asian Languages Sciences. CAS now runs what we believe the extent that the Trump administration and Civilizations), Matthew Shores is the nation’s only Asian Studies CLAC has an international perspective, it (Visiting Assistant Professor of Japanese program! So far, this program has given emphasizes a world of danger and in Asian Languages and Civilizations), students mentored opportunities in potential harm. This is reflected in the Yaffa Truelove (Assistant Professor of existing courses to explore additional President’s recent budget proposal, which Geography/International Affairs with course content in Arabic, Chinese, and would eliminate all funding for the US research focus in South Asian cities), and Japanese languages. Department of Education’s Title VI Mike Dwyer (Instructor in program (which funds area studies We’re thrilled to have recently Geography with research centers nationwide), as well as the been awarded a three-year grant interests in Southeast Asian Fulbright-Hays program (which funds from the Henry Luce Foundation political ecology). We’ve also research and training efforts overseas, for the project “China Made: been enriched by the presence emphasizing non-Western foreign Asian Infrastructures and the of visiting scholars from Korea, languages and area studies). ‘China Model’ of Development.” China, and Germany. Also in The China Made project partners While we are thankful that Congress has 2017, CAS partnered with CU’s CAS with the Hong Kong reinstated funding for these programs in Tibet Himalaya Initiative to Institute for Humanities and the recently-passed spending package, the enhance our programming with CAS Director Social Sciences to study China’s President’s justification for cutting them is a yearlong series of speakers on Tim Oakes infrastructure developments both indicative of a more general hostility Tibet and the broader within and beyond its borders. The toward any international education and Himalayan regions of Asia. project will involve three academic research that does not explicitly prioritize The Center has had a busy year conferences, postdoctoral and graduate the security interests of the United States. implementing its US Department of research positions, and the development Thus, the budget suggests that our Education-funded program to develop a of online scholarly resources for project country’s area studies expertise can be Southeast Asia track in the Asian Studies participants and the broader academic maintained through major, including new content courses, community. More information about the new Indonesian and Thai language study project can be found on our website. continues on page 2
CAS NEWSLETTER continued from page 1 In the words of Donald Davis, in a recent thrive in US higher education in ways Journal of Asian Studies article, “To come that programs focused more specifically existing programs whose mission is first [to the study of another area of the on security interests cannot. primarily national security, such as those world] with an instrumental agenda—I funded by the Department of Defense If this aspect of area studies is something need to know x about y in order to do or and the Central Intelligence Agency. you also value, as we do here at the to prevent z—is a recipe for mistrust, Center, then I hope you will consider While national security is certainly misunderstanding, and violence.” Davis donating to CAS. And I also hope you important and has a place in taxpayer- thus suggests that we adopt a ‘learn from’ will participate actively in the current funded international education and approach to the world, rather than a national conversation about how, and in research, the area studies mission is ‘learn about’ approach. Such a what ways, the United States engages something that expands well beyond this. perspective lies at the heart of area with the rest of the world. The area studies mission, in my opinion studies. This is not to say that the Title VI anyway, revolves around the idea that program was not itself born from the Timothy Oakes knowledge about the world begins with instrumentalist motives of 1950s Cold Director of CAS care, and an openness to being changed War geopolitics. Certainly it was. But Title Professor of Geography through one’s encounter with the Other. VI has enabled an area studies of care to
Greetings from Beijing. Last year in this space we mentioned the launch of a campaign to recruit From the CAS additional Advisory Council members. I’m delighted to report that seven new members have been added to our ranks: 2 former Faculty Directors of the Center who have recently retired from CU Advisory (Dennis McGilvray and Laurel Rasplica Rodd) and 5 community members (France Addington- Council Chair Lee, Hans Von Meister, Chris Yager, Stan Harsha, and Lee Strongwater). Each new member brings new skills & ideas, new networks and new energy to the Council. Welcome! The new interim Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, Jim White, and new Associate Dean responsible for CAS, Theresa Hernandez, joined our Fall meeting where we had a wide-ranging discussion about the importance of the Center and the challenges it faces. We look forward to their ongoing proactive support for the Center, including working towards stable funding over a 3-5 year time horizon. Other sections of the Newsletter bring you up to date on the impressive array of programs and activities supported by the Center. I continue to be struck by the tremendous potential of the University and the broader community along the Front Range to understand and highlight the importance of Asia, to nurture and promote a global world view as a central element of CU’s mission, and to build bridges between Boulder and Asia. CU Boulder has been working on a new “internationalization strategy.” We trust that the excellent recommendations from the 2010 review of internationalization will be both built upon and, most importantly, implemented. George Taylor, CAS Advisory Council (CASAC) Chair
Asian Studies Leadership Circle CAS Directors & Staff CAS recognizes donors who give Lee Strongwater, CASAC Member Tim Oakes, CAS Director; Professor of Geography Danielle Rocheleau Salaz, CAS Executive Director $1000 or more each calendar year as George and Beth Ann Taylor, Colleen Berry, CAS Associate Director and Instructor members of our Asian Studies CASAC Member Leadership Circle. We are pleased to Lynn Parisi, Director, Program for Teaching East Asia recognize our 2017 Leadership Chris Yager, CASAC Member Susan Schmidt, Executive Director, AATJ Circle members: Thank you to our Asian Studies Kathy Ajisaka, Executive Assistant, AAJT Catherine Ishida, TEA Senior Staff Associate, Japan Dennis McGilvray, CASAC Leadership Circle members, and to and Korea Projects Coordinator Member and Professor Emeritus, all our supporters. Your Mark Pleiss, CLAC Coordinator Anthropology, CU Boulder contributions allow us to continue to make a difference on campus and in Joanne Sakaguchi, CAS and TEA Assistant to the Laurel Rasplica Rodd, CASAC the broader community. Directors for Grant Administration Member and Professor Emerita, Laurel Singleton, TEA Staff Associate Japanese, CU Boulder; and Greg Liza Williams, CAS Event Coordinator Rodd Jon Zeljo, TEA Senior Staff Associate, China and NCTA Kazunori Takato, CU Alumnus, Patrick Chimenti, CAS Graduate Research Assistant Class of 1973 Gabriella Ramirez, CAS Videography Intern