A Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges to Promote Asian Studies
2012 ASIANetwork Conference
and 20th Anniversary Celebration
Hosted by Willamette University
DoubleTree Hotel, Portland, Oregon
March 30-April 1, 2012
Invitation from the ASIANetwork Board Vice-Chair Mary Beth Heston
The ASIANetwork Board is pleased to invite you to attend the 20th Anniversary ASIANetwork Annual Conference, to take place at the Hotel DoubleTree, Portland, Oregon, March 30 to April 1, 2012. Our conference is hosted by Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. We will travel to Willamette on Saturday afternoon of the conference, where we will have a plenary session on our hot topic, five breakout sessions, and a reception hosted by Willamette. Other features of the program include a keynote address on Friday evening, followed by our celebration of ASIANetwork’s 20th birthday, and a plenary session on Sunday morning. The exceptionally large number of panel and paper proposals required that we open up extra sessions over the entire conference; we are delighted at the enthusiastic response to the Call for Papers, and only wish we were able to accommodate all proposals. We are anticipating a record number of attendees for our 20th Birthday, and we look forward to celebrating this event not only by looking back at our beginnings and forward to our plans as we move into the future, but also by the many sessions devoted to thinking about a broad range of networks in, of, and about Asia.
Pre-conference events on Friday include a tour of Portland’s Chinese Garden and Japanese Garden; this will be hosted by Willamette University, and pre-registration is required. We publish a review in the Winter 2011 ASIANetwork Bulletin (page 12) by Xijuan Zhou, Willamette University, of the documentary film, The Creation of Portland’s Classical Chinese Garden, by Raymond Olson, about the Portland Chinese Garden; you can find another review of the film by Margaret H. Lonzetta in the most recent issue of Education About Asia. Also included in the pre-conference program is a Workshop on Service Learning and the Environment, “International Service-Learning: Pedagogical and Logistical Challenges and Opportunities.” This workshop is part of the exploratory grant from the Luce Foundation for ASIANetwork Service Learning and the Environment in Asia Program (ANSLEAP). Fuji Lozada, Davidson College, co-director of ANSLEAP with Jack Harris, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, will conduct the workshop. Pre-registration is required to attend this workshop and registration is limited, so sign on early. You can read more about this new ASIANetwork program in the Winter 2011 ASIANetwork Bulletin, or on its page. For details on registering, see below, or go directly to the conference registration page.
The conference officially opens on Friday evening with our keynote speaker, Thomas L. Benson, co-founder of ASIANetwork and the first chair of the board of directors. He is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of the Council for American Culture and Education (CACE), and founder and Executive Director of the World Leadership Corps, an international service organization launched at Oxford University in 2005. Dr. Benson is President Emeritus of Green Mountain College, which was named the number #1 environmental college by the Sierra Club in 2010; he is currently a trustee and chair of the board of the Japan ICU Foundation and chair of the board of directors of the Myanmar Foundation. He plans to join stories from the early years of ASIANetwork with his perspective on the cultures of Asia and the core values of the liberal arts tradition in order to highlight some of the underlying philosophical reasons for ASIANetwork’s success as we celebrate our twentieth birthday. A birthday party will follow, which will open with a Lion Dance, followed by acknowledging and honoring some of our most important benefactors. The festivities will continue with musical performances, a viewing of the documentary film on the Portland Chinese Garden, and other festivities. We look forward to celebrating this auspicious event with our ASIANetwork friends and colleagues.
Our Saturday morning breakfast will include a variety of Roundtables focusing on various ASIANetwork Programs and initiatives, for those who would like a chance to learn more about ASIANetwork. This is followed by two sets of five breakout sessions, which will include the 2011 ASIANetwork-Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Poster Session. These represent an impressive mix of scholarly papers based on members’ research and various pedagogy-focused panels. After our morning sessions we will board busses to Willamette (eating a box lunch on the bus).
Our visit to Willamette begins with our “Hot Topic,” delivered by Wendy Larson, Vice Provost for Portland Programs and Professor of Modern Chinese Literature and Film, University of Oregon. She has published extensively on modern literature and film, including From Ah Q to Lei Feng: Freud and Revolutionary Spirit in 20th Century China (Stanford University Press 2009) and Women and Writing in Modern China (Stanford University Press, 1998). Her talk, “Performing China: National Culture on the Global Stage,” involves her current research on the fundamental contradiction inherent in the notion that “culture” in the modern “family of nations” must be traditional enough to indicate continuity with the past and yet modern enough to forge a path into the new global order. Her talk will be followed directly by concurrent sessions. Our visit to Willamette will conclude with a reception hosted by Willamette, after which we return to Portland for an evening on our own to enjoy and explore the great city of Portland.
Sunday’s morning session begins with a breakfast Business Meeting – a great opportunity for members to learn more about ASIANetwork. Sunday’s Plenary Session, “ASIANetwork at Twenty: Reflections on the Past, Visions for the Future,” will include brief talks by the first, second, and current Executive Directors of ASIANetwork - Marianna McJimsey, Colorado College; Van J. Symons, Augustana College; and Teddy Amoloza, Illinois Wesleyan University; these will provide an overview of not just the history or our organization but of the many dynamic programs initiated by and through ASIANetwork. Steve Udry, currently ASIANetwork Board Chair, will touch on the exciting new directions our recent Strategic Plan suggests for ASIANetwork. The final concurrent sessions will follow. We look forward to coming together to celebrate our first twenty years, and to your continued involvement in making the coming twenty even more successful and vibrant.
Conference Registration and Meals
Registration deadline: February 24, 2012 – please register online.
Registration fee: $200 for ASIANetwork members; $210 for non-ASIANetwork members. Additional $10 will be added to late registrations. Registration fee includes conference fee and, except for Saturday dinner, all meals and breaks from Friday evening dinner to Sunday morning break.
Pre-conference trip: $40 includes entrance fees
Payment: Payment may be made by credit card when registering online or if manual payment is chosen, please send check or money order payable to ASIANetwork (the ASIANetwork office is not equipped to handle credit card charges) to:
Dr. Teddy Amoloza
ASIANetwork Executive Director
Illinois Wesleyan University
205 East Beecher Street
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900
Accommodations
Conference site: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland, OR
Address: 1000 NE Multnomah Street
Reservation: Call 1-800-996-0510 (identify yourself as participating in the ASIANetwork Conference) or click here to access the private online reservation page.
Room rate:
- $115 for one queen bed (single or double occupancy) or
- $130 for 2 queen beds or one king bed (single or double occupancy)
plus applicable state and local taxes
Reservation deadline: February 28, 2012 for conference rates
Travel Information from Portland International Airport (PDX)
Light Rail (MAX): $2.40 for All-Zone Adult Ticket
- Purchase ticket outside baggage claim at automated kiosk with cash or credit card
- Board the Red Line to City Center/Beaverton TC (only one train departs from the airport)
- Get off at Lloyd Center/NE 11th Ave; Hotel is across the street; travel time: 25 minutes
Taxi: $30-35; 10.6 miles from the airport; travel time: 15-20 minutes
Driving (Free hotel parking):
The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel is at:
1000 NE Multnomah Street
Portland, OR 97232
If you have questions about the conference, please address them to Mary Beth Heston, ASIANetwork Board Vice-Chair and conference organizer at hestonM@cofc.edu, phone (843) 953-6313 or Teddy Amoloza, Executive Director, at tamoloza@iwu.edu, phone (309) 556-3405.