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 address practical problems encountered by teachers in liberal arts institutions. These are small gatherings where participants meet others who face similar challenges.
- The ASIANetwork Exchange, a newsletter for teaching about Asia publishes announcements of new ASIANetwork initiatives, keynote speeches presented at the annual spring conference, book reviews, essays on teaching resources, and reports on foundation-funded ASIANetwork sponsored programs.
- 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.
- 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 361 fellows, and will support another 60 fellows through 2007.
- The Henry Luce Foundation supports an ASIANetwork project entitled Asian Art in the Undergraduate Curriculum. The grant enables member colleges to invite art historians and consultants to evaluate Asian art and material resources on their campuses. A book entitled Asian Art in the Undergraduate Curriculum will be produced, along with an accompanying DVD to focus on the historical connections between American liberal arts institutions and Asian cultures as evidenced by their art collections, and the pedagogical significance of these collections.
- ASIANetwork, in partnership with the Center for Educational Exchange with Vietnam and the American Council of Learned Societies offers an Academic Exchange with Vietnam funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, 2005-2007. Vietnamese faculty members visit ASIANetwork colleges who in turn send representatives from their colleges to Vietnam. These exchanges are designed to help create long-term relationships between ASIANetwork colleges and Vietnamese institutions of higher education.
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 who participate as full, associate, and affiliate members, based on a range of criteria. Individuals join as affiliate individual members.
A complete member list is available.
Membership Categories
- Full Membership: open to all accredited, degree granting institutions that define their sole or primary mission as the provision of an undergraduate liberal arts education. In general, these will be relatively small, private colleges with enrollments roughly between 500 2,500, although some public and some larger institutions may also be admitted to full membership, which confers all the benefits described in the brochure. Annual dues: $300.00
- Associate Membership: open to accredited, degree granting institutions that define as one of their basic missions the provision of an undergraduate liberal arts education. Typical Associate Members will be small universities, some community colleges, and other private and public colleges with somewhat larger enrollments. All benefits open to Full Members are also open to Associates, except that in the case of competing applications for fellowships and grants administered by ASIANetwork, and for Board Membership, Full Members will be given priority. Annual dues: $200.00
- Affiliate Membership: open to either organizations (foundations, publishing houses, etc.), or individuals 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 for organizations and $50.00 for individuals
Membership Application Form
A Membership Application Form (PDF) and a Membership Invoice Form (PDF) are available for you to view and print out.