A Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges to Promote Asian Studies
Benefits of ASIANetwork Membership
Dorothy Ko Presenting Plenary Speech on "Perspectives on Footbinding" at 2007 Conference, as Vice-Chair Don Clark Looks On (Photo by Bob Eng)
Providing support for Asian Studies at liberal arts colleges throughout North America, ASIANetwork encourages colleges to join as institutional members. Because successful Asian Studies programs require collaboration from librarians, deans, off-campus study administrators, and faculty across departments, ASIANetwork membership consists primarily of institutions, although individuals may join as affiliates.
Membership confers the following benefits:
- Annual Conferences, highlighting Asian Studies pedagogy and scholarship, are small gatherings where scholar-faculty from liberal arts colleges meet to engage new ideas and resources.
- ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts publishes scholarly articles, keynote lectures, book reviews, reflections on Foundation-funded ASIANetwork programs, and essays on teaching resources.
- The ASIANetwork Consultancy Advisory Program, modeled on the original Henry Luce Foundation funded consultancy program, matches experienced consultants from established Asian Studies programs at liberal arts colleges with ASIANetwork member institutions seeking advice on how to strengthen the study of Asia on their campuses. These consultants may be invited as evaluators by programs conducting programmatic and curricular reviews.
- The Student-Faculty Fellows Program, funded by the Freeman Foundation, supports collaborative research in Asia for a faculty mentor and up to five students from an ASIANetwork institution. This undergraduate research carried out in East and Southeast Asia under the supervision of a teacher-scholar is shared within individual campus communities and ASIANetwork. Since 1998, this program has funded 633 fellows, and will support at least another 120 fellows through 2012.
- Supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, the Asian Art in the Undergraduate Curriculum project provided professional evaluation of Asian art and artifacts on the campuses of member institutions. Reflecting these colleges’ Asian art collections, the book Reading Asian Art and Artifacts: Windows to Asia in American College Campuses, with accompanying web-based digital images, will be published soon.
- The ASIANetwork Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows Program, 2010-2013, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, provides support to member institutions for the hiring of recent Ph.D. graduates in Asian Studies as one-year Teaching Fellows. ASIANetwork awards fellowship funds to four member institutions each year. Member schools may access applications on the ASIANetwork web site.
- The ASIANetwork Faculty Enhancement Program (beginning summer 2011, pending funding approval by the Mellon Foundation) will provide to ASIANetwork faculty, both specialists and non-specialists on Asia, an opportunity to study in India, South Korea, and Vietnam for the purpose of developing new teaching initiatives and new directions for research. This program encourages collaborative projects among faculty from different colleges, and between faculty in the U.S. and faculty in Asia.
Membership
ASIANetwork member institutions vary in size and style of intellectual community, but share a primary commitment to undergraduate education in the liberal arts and the study of Asia as part of that commitment. ASIANetwork is fundamentally a consortium of small, liberal arts institutions which participate as Category I and Category II Members, based on a range of criteria. Organizations such as foundations and publishing houses join as affiliate members. Individuals join as individual members.
At the ASIANetwork business meeting on April 10, 2010, at the Emory Conference Center, members approved a proposed change in membership categories, which go into effect for 2010-11. Please see the FAQ below.
A complete member list is available.
Membership Categories
- Institutional Members. Annual dues: $300.00. “Institutional Members” will be comprised of two categories of institutions: Category I and Category II.
Category I — all accredited, degree-granting institutions that define their primary mission as the provision of an undergraduate liberal arts education. Ordinarily, these will be relatively small colleges with enrollments of 6,000 students or less.
Category II — all accredited, degree-granting institutions that define one of their missions as the provision of an undergraduate liberal arts education. Ordinarily, Category II Institutional Members will be small universities, some community colleges, and/or other institutions with enrollments of 6,000 students or more.
All benefits of institutional membership are available to both categories. Since the mission of ASIANetwork is the fostering of Asian Studies in small liberal arts colleges, in competition for fellowships and grants administered by ASIANetwork and for Board Membership, preference may be given to Category I institutions.
- Affiliate Membership: open to organizations (foundations, publishing houses, etc.) with an interest in undergraduate liberal arts education. Affiliate Membership confers all the benefits open to other members, except that they are not eligible for the following: 1) to apply for fellowships or grants administered by ASIANetwork; and 2) to nominate or elect candidates to serve as officers of the organization. Annual dues: $100.00
- Individual Membership: open to individuals with an interest in undergraduate liberal arts education. Individual Membership confers all the benefits open to other members, except that they are not eligible for the following: 1) to apply for fellowships or grants administered by ASIANetwork; and 2) to nominate or elect candidates to serve as officers of the organization. Annual dues: $50.00
FAQ on the Change in Membership Categories
Approved at ASIANetwork Business Meeting April 10, 2010
- Will the proposed changes to the By-Laws undermine the primary mission of ASIANetwork?
- What happens to existing “Associate Members”?
- What happens to existing “Affiliate Members” and “Individuals”?
There will be no change to these categories of membership. All benefits will remain the same for both groups. - Will larger, research institutions dominate ASIANetwork grant and leadership opportunities?
No. Among other criteria, we will continue to evaluate grant proposals on the potential impact that a project will have on the overall campus life of the applying institution. - Will this change affect our ability to support colleges with the greatest financial need?
We have not used financial need as a criterion in the past. Moreover, there is currently great variation in the financial resources of our members.
- Are there any changes to benefits of membership?
No. In fact, there has been almost no difference in the benefits available to full and associate members. The proposed changes to the By Laws will not have any effect on membership benefits. Historically, Associate Members have been competitive with Full Members in terms of grants; no Associate Member has ever lost a grant to a Full Member because of status of membership. We expect that Category II institutions would continue to be just as competitive in the grant process in the future. - Are there any substantial differences between Category I and Category II Institutional Membership?
No. Although the ASIANetwork’s mission is to serve small liberal arts colleges, ASIANetwork programs have been available to all member institutions. - What will happen to community colleges?
Those community colleges that share our focus on liberal arts undergraduate education are welcome to become institutional members, although the cost of their participation will increase $100. Currently, we have one community college among our Associate Members.
No, ASIANetwork will remain, as it has always, focused on the promotion of the study of Asia in undergraduate, liberal arts education. Our members will continue to share this liberal arts focus. We do not anticipate larger, research-oriented institutions joining the organization as a result of these changes, although the changes would allow us to accommodate the participation of colleges within research institutions that share our mission.
All current Associate Member institutions will be invited to become “Institutional Members.” Depending upon the institution, they will be assigned to Category I or Category II. We will initiate a two-year grace period for the transition between previous and new membership categories.