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Message from the Director ` Spring 2017 a The East Asia Center Newsletter ContentsContents • Message from the Director ...........1 • Announcements ............................3 East Asia Center News • Faculty & Staff News ...................4 • Student News ................................7 • Events ...........................................9 Southeast Asian Studies News • Announements ............................12 On April 13th the East Asia • Faculty & Staff News .................12 Center organized a group • Student News ..............................13 visit to Morven Tea House and Garden. Message from the Director This academic year the Center Japanese Literature major) and Faculty Publications welcomes several new faculty: his wife Satoko. Mr. Nir also Jack Chen in East Asian made a generous gift, setting up Languages, Literatures and the Michiko N. Wilson Award Cultures, Camilla Fojas in Media at the University to advance the Studies, and Natasha Heller in study of Japanese literature and Religious Studies (beginning in Japan-US cultural relations in spring 2017). Michiko Wilson her honor. There will be a formal is retiring after a four-decade announcement of this annual long career and as a trail blazer award in the Fall. We wish her at an earlier time when the all the best in her retirement! University had very few female faculty! Her contributions to Jean Blackwell joined us in the Fred Damon Japanese literature, notably in fall as Administrative Supervisor, her translation of the works of while Jo Watts, who previously Trees, Knots, and Outtriggers: the Japanese Nobel Laureate was Administrative Coordinator Environmental Knowledge in the Kenzaburo Oe and in feminist of the Asia Institute, now mostly Northeast Kula Ring. New York, literary criticism, and her works with Center matters. In NY. Berghahn Books, 2017. dedication to teaching was August 2016, the Center office honored in a luncheon on April moved to a new location, New Although Damon’s work is 26 hosted by Aaron Nir, one Cabell 037, and we have also largely about the Melanesian of her former students (1987 launched an updated Center web http://eastasiacenter.as.virginia.edu/ Page 1 East Asia Center Newsletter society he has been researching for 40 years, the concluding page. We thank Jo for assisting in “Nelson Lectures on Southeast synthetic chapter of the book the transition of both “moves”. Asia” and the “Nelson Scholars” shows how an outrigger canoe program in spring 2016. In fall form, which is as much a The total number of faculty 2016, the Center has created the religious as communicative affiliated with the Center is Committee on Southeast Asia instrument, entails a synthesis around 50. While the majority Programming and Grants of relations between the earth comes from the College, we also to oversee various activities. and heaven. Although the facts have affiliated faculty in other The announcement of the of the case come from the island schools across campus. In light establishment of the Nelson culture, his interpretive scheme of the general dissatisfaction that Endowment Fund in January derives from his last 10-15 years faculty are often in silos of their 2017 ensures continuous support gradually becoming familiar with own disciplines and divisions, of the above programs. We are the intersection of heaven and the Center launched the Center very grateful to the Nelson family earth in Chinese architectural Faculty Forum. At each forum, for their generous support in and cosmological thought. The University of Virginia, Weedon 2 to 3 faculty from different advancing the understanding and Foundation and East Asian disciplines give brief presentations study of Southeast Asia, an area Center have greatly facilitated of their current research. This will that has long been overlooked in his time and study in China be an occasion for us to learn from the College’s curriculum. and therefore significantly each other and to truly engage contributed to the comparative in cross-disciplinary and cross- Since his recent retirement and project he brought to fruition regional dialogues. The inaugural true to the form of a dedicated with the publication of his book. forum occurred in February and historian, Emeritus Professor received very positive feedback. Ron Dimberg has been working We plan to schedule the forum on a project documenting the Harry Harding regularly and will expand institutional history of East Asian to include our colleagues in Studies at the University. His Harding has co-authored, with Southeast Asian Studies as well. initial findings was presented Ellen Laipson, the president of in a lecture entitled “East Asian the Stimson Center, the chapter This year we also launched the Studies at UVa: The Early “U.S. Views,” in Asian Views on 4+1 B.A./M.A. East Asian Decades — Context and Content” America’s Role in Asia: The Future Studies Program designed in April. An audio recording of of the Rebalance, commissioned specifically for UVa students. The the lecture has been posted to and published by the Asia program complements our current the Center home page. Dimberg Foundation. He presented the two-year M.A. program, but was one of the founding faculty report to audiences in Tokyo provides qualified UVa students members of the East Asia and Seoul, and was interviewed an accelerated path to reach the Center, and was instrumental about the report by the Tokyo goal of obtaining an M.A. as in working with the Weedon bureau chief of the New York preparation for careers in business, family in establishing the Weedon Times. He has also begun work on a new book on the history of government service, and media, Endowment Fund that continues U.S.-China relations since 1992, or as preparation for entering to sponsor the Center’s activities under the working title What professional schools or doctoral and grants in a vital way. We Went Wrong? The U.S. and China programs. Although we have not thank Dimberg for his dedication! from Partners to Competitors. recruited students to enroll in the program this fall, we hope to Dorothy Wong more broadly advertise it to our May 1, 2017 students in the coming year. With the generous support of “The Family of Sally and Bruce Nelson” funds, we began the 2 Page http://eastasiacenter.as.virginia.edu/ Page 2 East Asia Center Newsletter Announcements East Asia Center Launches 4+1 B.A./M.A. Program The 4+1 B.A./M.A. for UVa students is an interdisciplinary program intended for students who want in-depth exposure to East Asia at the graduate level while also gaining competency in an East Asian language. The program is designed for students who seek a rich knowledge of East Asia as preparation for careers in business, government service, and media, or as preparation for entering professional schools or doctoral programs. Undergraduates may apply directly to the Center for promotion to the master’s program without Aynne Kokas having to pay an application fee and sit for standardized tests. More information on the program can be found on the East Asia Center Hollywood Made in China. website under the “Academics” heading. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2017. Funding Opportunity for UVa Faculty and Students China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 The Fudan University Fellows Program and East China Normal ignited a race to capture University ECNU-UVa Visiting Scholar Program provide funding new global media audiences. (airfare, housing and/or per diem) to graduate students and/or faculty Hollywood moguls began to do research at those universities in Shanghai. For more information, courting Chinese investors please see the announcement regarding this program on the East Asia to create entertainment on Center website. an international scale—from behemoth theme parks to 10th Anniversary for STARTALK at UVA blockbuster films. Hollywood Made in China examines these The Virginia STARTALK Chinese Teacher and Student Academies new collaborations, where the (VSCTA and VSCSA respectively) enter their 10th anniversary this distinctions between Hollywood’s summer. The UVa 2017 combination program will continue to offer “dream factory” and Xi Jinping’s an innovative, blended training model to prepare Chinese language “Chinese Dream” of global teachers to educate online. Its proven record of accomplishment, along influence become increasingly with teacher participants’ testimonials praising its content, training blurred. With insightful policy and rigor, have garnered national recognition and enabled the program analysis, ethnographic research, to attract a large application pool from diverse geographical areas. and interviews with CEOs, For 2017, the VSCTA program will recruit 12 passionate teachers directors, and film workers in nationwide. The recruited teachers will actively engage in synchronous Beijing, Shanghai, and Los and asynchronous interactive platforms created for the two-week pre- Angeles, Aynne Kokas offers program online training modules as well as be present during the three- an unflinching look at China’s week residential onsite training here at UVa. The full program runs new role in the global media th th industries. A window into the from June 19 to July 6 . Please view the program website for further partnerships with Chinese information: http://www.startalkuva.com. corporations that now shape Hollywood, this book will New Library Resources captivate anyone who consumes commercial media in the twenty- Interested in finding new books in your field at the UVa Library? Find first century. them by call number at: http://guides.lib.virginia.edu/newbooks. Coming Soon: Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics online reference tool. http://eastasiacenter.as.virginia.edu/ Page 3 East Asia Center Newsletter Hsin-Hsin Liang Faculty & Staff News Hsin-Hsin Liang co-authored with De-an Wu, Julian Wheatley, Xianmin Liu and Jack Chen mechanisms to collaborate and Judy Zhiyun Mu 《外国人生 make meaningful connections 活汉语教材系列》(Success in Jack Chen is co-director, together across departments and schools.” China: Mandarin for Living: with Debjani Ganguly and A Communicative Approach). Alison Booth, of the “Humanities Harry Harding Chinese Textbook Series.
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