A Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges to Promote Asian Studies
ASIANetwork
Center for Educational Exchange with Vietnam
American Council of Learned Societies
The Henry Luce Foundation
Academic Exchange Grants
2006-2007
Panel on "Teaching and Learning in Vietnam and the USA" at the 2007 Conference, Chaired by Paul Nietupski & With Vietnam Visiting Scholars as Participants (Photo by Roxie Ransom)
ASIANetwork, the Center for Educational Exchange with Vietnam, and the American Council of Learned Societies, with support from the Henry Luce Foundation are pleased to announce the second year of a grant program to promote academic exchange with Vietnam. ASIANetwork member schools are invited to submit applications to host visiting faculty from Vietnam for semester-long stays on their campuses. Upon the completion of the Vietnamese faculty members' studies, host colleges and universities will send representatives to Vietnam for month-long visits. Vietnamese faculty members will come to the United States for the Fall 2006 semester and the US faculty members will visit Vietnam in Summer 2007. The goals of this project are to enable visiting Vietnamese faculty to examine the academic environment, teaching methods, and curricula of the host institutions, and to stimulate academic exchanges and long-term relationships between ASIANetwork colleges and universities and Vietnamese schools. All expenses will be covered by the Luce grant.
Since its inception in 1990, the Center for Educational Exchange with Vietnam has promoted professional and academic exchanges that contribute to Vietnam's development and provide links between Vietnam and the international academic community. CEEVN activities have included Ford Foundation-sponsored graduate studies, support for foreign language studies, opportunities for under-represented communities, and a broad range of international exchange programs. CEEVN is affiliated with the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and the American Council of Learned Societies.
The American Council of Learned Societies is a private non-profit federation of 68 national scholarly organizations, encompassing over 200 colleges, universities and libraries. It was established in 1919 with the mission to promote the study of the humanities and social sciences and to maintain and strengthen relations among national societies engaged in these studies. ACLS supports research and initiatives in the United States and internationally in the humanities and social sciences.
ASIANetwork, founded in 1992, is a consortium of over 150 small and medium size colleges and universities that seek to develop the study and teaching of Asian topics in their curricula. Through the publication of a triennial newsletter, management of a website at www.asianetwork.org, convening of an annual spring conference, and sponsoring an array of foundation-funded student, faculty, and curricular development programs, ASIANetwork seeks to strengthen the role of Asian Studies within the framework of liberal arts education.
In 2006 four grants will be awarded to ASIANetwork schools. In Fall semester 2006, each of four ASIANetwork schools will host a Vietnamese faculty member in the humanities or social sciences for one semester. CEEVN and ACLS will make visa and travel arrangements, and secure health insurance for the Vietnamese faculty. In addition, CEEVN, ACLS and ASIANetwork will organize a mid-semester workshop for the Vietnamese guests. Utilizing financial support drawn from the grant, host schools will provide visiting faculty with housing, office space, computer access, local orientation, and appropriate support for their scholarly endeavors, including the opportunity to audit courses of study if desired. Vietnamese guests are not expected to teach courses at their host schools. Finally, in the summer of 2007, the grant will provide funds for one scholar from each host school, to be guests of the Vietnamese universities involved in this exchange. The US scholars will be able to pursue their own research, study the curricula at Vietnamese schools and work to build ongoing exchanges.
Program Details
- The goal of this project is to promote academic exchange with Vietnam.
- Schools that apply for participation in this project must be members of ASIANetwork (see www.asianetwork.org for details).
- The application deadline is 15 January 2006. Notification of successful applications will be given in Spring 2006.
- The on-campus coordinator at each host school will arrange for local housing, office space, orientation, transportation, etc.
- The coordinator is responsible for providing a report to AN/CEEVN/ACLS of the immediate results of the program within two months of the visiting Vietnamese faculty member's return to Vietnam, and a further analysis of the impact of this program on the US host campus by April 1, 2007. These reports should include mention of the visiting Vietnamese faculty member's course of study, his/her ability to adjust to the challenges of working in North America, the success of the host community in meeting his/her needs, and, finally, the overall impact of the visit on the host college.
- A $1,000 honorarium is provided to the on-campus coordinator, and $1,000 is provided to the host college to cover administrative expenses. Adequate support to cover the costs of housing, phone, meals, and other expenses of the visiting faculty are also built into the grant.
The Application Process
In order for the selection committee to effectively evaluate the ASIANetwork schools' applications to serve as hosts for a visiting faculty exchange, the application should include the following:
- An analysis of the host college's Vietnam, Southeast Asian, or Asian Studies program (Note: The host college does not need to have a Vietnam Studies program to apply);
- Biographical sketches and five-pages maximum curriculum vitae of the coordinator and additional resource persons who will interact with the visiting Vietnamese faculty member;
- A review of similar hosting that the college has done in the past;
- A statement of how hosting a Vietnamese faculty member will contribute to the college's Southeast Asian or Asian Studies program, and how the grant will also benefit the American faculty member selected to visit Vietnam, and
- A specific proposed program agenda for the Vietnamese scholar while in residence at the host school.