A Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges to Promote Asian Studies

Program Description and Guidelines for 2011-12

Application Deadline: Monday, November 1, 2010

Through the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation, ASIANetwork will provide member institutions the opportunity to apply for a grant to hire a postdoctoral teaching fellow in Asian Studies. The ASIANetwork - Luce Teaching Fellows, recent recipients of a terminal degree from a North American university, will spend one year at a host ASIANetwork member college, teaching and participating in the intellectual and cultural life of the host college. ASIANetwork will award 4 grants each year for 3 academic years (2010-11, 2011-12, and 2012-13).

Program Overview

ASIANetwork will provide $30,000 to each of the selected colleges as partial support for the hiring of the teaching fellow and $1,000 to support the fellow’s mentor/coordinator. The host college will follow its own search and employment procedures within the context of program guidelines provided by ASIANetwork.

During the year of participation in the Program, the host college will designate a faculty mentor to work with the teaching fellow and will arrange various professional development opportunities. ASIANetwork will provide each teaching fellow with a travel allowance to attend the ASIANetwork annual conference. The teaching fellow will teach a half-time course load, attend departmental and college faculty meetings, keep office hours, mentor students, and continue to pursue research and/or other scholarly projects. With allowances for the academic discipline, area of regional specialty, and the needs of the host college, the teaching fellow should be encouraged to teach comparatively about Asia.

Program Objectives

1. Advance the primary mission of ASIANetwork to support teaching about Asia at our member colleges by bringing recent recipients of doctoral or terminal graduate degrees with Asian specializations to member campuses to enrich Asian Studies programs through teaching and interacting with students, collaborating with faculty, enhancing the curriculum, and participating in the intellectual and cultural life of the host college.
2. Mentor young Asianists as liberal arts college faculty members by immersing them in the teaching life of a host college. ASIANetwork faculty members are distinguished by their commitment to teaching. The Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow Program will allow them to share their passion for teaching with a younger generation of scholars. The postdoctoral fellowship offers the teaching fellows an opportunity to gain valuable teaching experience that will strengthen their career options.

Selection Criteria

Among many criteria, the Selection Committee will pay special attention to the applicant college’s programs and needs in Asian Studies, opportunities for the teaching fellow, and potential for building on the fellow’s contribution to curriculum development in subsequent years. For institutions that have previously received grants from ASIANetwork, the implementation and reporting of the prior grant(s) will be considered.

Eligibility

Only U.S. ASIANetwork member colleges and universities are eligible. Please visit our membership benefits page for information on how to join ASIANetwork. Colleges must be members of ASIANetwork for one year prior to making application for a grant. Applicants for the 2011-12 program must have joined ASIANetwork prior to January 1, 2010. Previous recipients of an ASIANetwork - Luce Teaching Fellow grant are not eligible.

Timeline and Procedures

Application deadline: Monday, November 1, 2010
Notification of selected host colleges: November 30, 2010
Deadline for acceptance of the award: Monday, December 6, 2010
Host college begins search: Winter/spring 2011
Final job description due to Program Director: January 15, 2011
Host college begins to advertise the position: Winter/spring 2011
ASIANetwork publicizes the four 2011-12 position openings: Winter/spring 2011
Disbursement of grant funds: Early August 2011
Final report of the teaching fellow: May 31, 2012
Final report of the host college: June 30, 2012

Host College Responsibilities

The Teaching Fellow is hired and compensated by the host college through partial funding provided by the ASIANetwork - Luce Foundation Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow Program

• Set up a search process following host college procedures and Program guidelines and expectations
  • The host college is encouraged to define the position broadly in order to reach out to a large pool of potential candidates; for instance, a position in ethnomusicology with any Asian expertise or a position in Japanese Studies without a disciplinary designation is preferable to an historian of Japan or a sociologist of China.
  • The application deadline should be no earlier than Feb. 15, 2011, and should include a statement indicating that applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For instance, “Review of applications will begin on March 1, 2011, and continue until the position is filled.”
  • Possible places to advertise include:
    • Chronicle of Higher Education
    • Association for Asian Studies
    • H-Net
    • Higheredjobs.com
    • Insidehighered.com
    • Professional organizations in the discipline
    • Individual mailings to research universities and college alumni
  • ASIANetwork also plans to advertise the 4 positions in a variety of ways. Some ads will be generic without reference to the specific positions; others will include a brief description of each of the 4 positions. These ads will direct potential applicants to a page on the AN website that will include the position description of each of the 4 positions along with links to the individual campus's position posting and contact person. To facilitate this effort, host colleges should post the position on the college's website no later than January 15, 2011.
  • All advertising of the position, including the web posting, should include these sentences in an appropriate place: “. . . with the support of the ASIANetwork - Luce Teaching Fellow Program.” and “Fellows should have earned a doctorate or terminal degree from a North American university within the prior 3 years. Applicants who are ABD may be considered, provided that they have a scheduled completion date prior to the beginning of the fellowship year verified by their graduate advisor.”
• Initiate hiring process using host college policies and procedures
  • See “Guidelines for Hiring the Teaching Fellow” below.
• Enter into a contractual relationship with the teaching fellow
  • The selection of the fellow is the responsibility of the host college. Contractual and other employment arrangements, including the possible provision of health insurance and other benefits, are between the host college and the teaching fellow. The teaching load will be half time (maximum 2 courses/semester).
  • ASIANetwork will disburse grant funds only upon receiving a copy of the contract signed by the teaching fellow. No financial support will be given to host colleges that fail to engage a teaching fellow. Colleges that experience a failed search will be given the option of deferring the grant to the following year. Two consecutive failed searches will result in forfeiture of the grant. ASIANetwork will not provide reimbursement for any expenditure related to a failed search.
• Designate a mentor/coordinator to work with the teaching fellow
• Assist the fellow with resettlement by providing campus housing options, reimbursement for moving expenses, and other benefits whenever possible
• Provide office space and a computer for the fellow
• Provide the fellow with mentoring and other opportunities to work with other host college faculty members.
• Provide professional development opportunities to the fellow
• Send at least one faculty member to the ASIANetwork annual conference during the year(s) of the search for a teaching fellow
• Send at least one faculty member to accompany the teaching fellow to the ASIANetwork annual conference during the year of the fellowship
• Administer the funds allocated by the grant
• Assume full responsibility--and release ASIANetwork and all of its directors, officers, advisors and employees of any liability--for any and all risks and damages arising out of any activity undertaken in connection with the grant
• Submit final report to ASIANetwork
• Upon receipt of the final report, ASIANetwork will disburse to the college the additional $1,000 designated as support of the mentor/coordinator’s activities.

Guidelines for Hiring the Teaching Fellow

Fellows should have earned a doctorate or terminal degree from a North American university within the prior 3 years. Applicants who are ABD may be considered, provided that they have a scheduled completion date prior to the beginning of the fellowship year verified by their graduate advisor. Although the academic discipline is not specified, the fellow’s graduate coursework and research experience must have Asia as its focus.

Application Procedures

Application guidelines for the 2011 Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow Program may be accessed as a Web page or as a PDF document. Please send applications to the Program Director by the specified deadline.

Program Director

Gary DeCoker
Professor, Japanese Studies
Earlham College
801 National Road West Richmond, IN 47374
Telephone: 765-983-1890
E-mail: decokga@earlham.edu

Teaching Fellow Program

• General Overview

2011-12 Program

• Grant Application Guidelines: HTML; PDF
  

• Additional Information: HTML; PDF
  
  
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This site is funded in part by a generous grant from the Luce Foundation and is maintained in cooperation with St. Olaf College. Send comments or questions about this Web site to: Robert Y. Eng, Web editor. Please first consult our Submission Guidelines for details on contributing information and suggestions regarding the ASIANetwork Web site content.