A Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges to Promote Asian Studies
2003 Annual Report of the ASIANetwork,
A Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges
To Promote Asian Studies
Presented to The Association for Asian Studies
March 13, 2004
Submitted by Dr. Van J. Symons
Executive Director, ASIANetwork
INTRODUCTION
ASIANetwork, conceptualized in 1992 and incorporated in 1993, has grown to become a consortium of about 150 liberal arts colleges seeking to strengthen the study of Asia on our campuses. The headquarters of the consortium are located at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Dr. Van J. Symons is the consortium’s Executive Director. ASIANetwork runs on an April to April calendar, revolving around our annual spring conference, when new board members are elected and a new board chair and vice-chair assume their responsibilities. The 2003 report bridges the work of the 2002-2003 board chair, Jim Leavell (Furman University), and the 2003-2004 chair, Paul Watt (DePauw University).
CURRENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF ASIANETWORK
- Richard Bohr, College of Saint Benedict and St. John’s University, (2003-2006)
- Diane Clayton, Hamline University, (2002-2005)
- Stephan Goldberg, Hamilton College, (2001-2004)
- Paul Kjellberg, Whittier College, (2002-2005)
- James Leavell, Furman University, (2000-2003), ex-officio past chair
- Paul Nietupski, John Carroll University, (2003-2006)
- Ning Chia, Central College, (2003-2006)
- Joan O’Mara, Washington & Lee University, (2002-2005)
- Gita Rajan, Fairfield University, (2001-2004)
- Van J. Symons, Augustana College, (1999-2005), executive director
- Paul Watt, DePauw University, (2001-2004), chair, board of directors
COUNCIL OF ADVISORS
- Elizabeth Bentzel Buck, Co-Director, Asian Studies Development Program, East-West Center, University of Hawaii, (1999-2002)
- Lucien Ellington, Editor, Education about Asia, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, (2003-2006)
- Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of Japanese History, Columbia University, (2001-2004)
- Roberta H. Martin, Co-Director, National Consortium for Teaching about Asia, East Asian Institute, Columbia University, (2003-2006)
- Barbara Metcalf, Professor of South Asian History, University of California, Davis, (2002-2005)
- Anthony Yu, Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor in Humanities, The University of Chicago, (2000-2003)
- Richard Wood, President, United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, (2003-2006)
2002-2003 MEMBERSHIP
As of August 31, 2003, ASIANetwork had 155 institutional members. 18 new institutional members joined ASIANetwork during the fiscal year September 1, 2001 through August 31, 2002.
At the spring business meeting of ASIANetwork, held April 30, 2000, members of the consortium approved the following formula for ASIANetwork membership. Full Membership is open to degree-granting institutions who define their sole or primary mission as the provision of an undergraduate liberal arts education and whose enrollments are roughly between 500-2500 students. (Annual dues: $250) Associate Membership is open to degree-granting institutions who define as one of their basic missions the provision of an undergraduate liberal arts education. Typical Associate Members are small universities, some community colleges, and private and public colleges with somewhat larger enrollments. (Annual dues: $150) Affiliate Membership is open to either organizations (foundations, publishing houses, etc.) (Annual dues: $100) or individuals with an interest in undergraduate liberal arts education. (Annual dues: $50). Dues from member institutions cover about 1/3 of consortium expenses.
Six faculty members from each member institution receive all ASIANetwork mailings and our current membership list includes nearly 1,000 individuals. Faculty from member institutions are eligible to attend the spring conference at the reduced membership rate. Faculty from Full and Associate Member institutions are eligible to apply to participate in ASIANetwork programs, but in the case of competing applications for fellowships and grants administered by ASIANetwork, and for board membership, Full members will be given priority.
ASIANETWORK ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Venue: Westin Poinsett Hotel, Greenville, South Carolina.
Host College: Furman University
Date: April 11-13, 2003
Attendance: 190
Keynote Speakers:
Eliot Deutsch, The University of Hawaii at Manoa
Carol Gluck, Columbia University
Program: Two keynote speaker presentations; two plenary sessions (Theodore Kidder, Japan International Christian University, on Japanese Archaeology, and John Flower, The University of North Carolina, on Tibetan and Appalachian Folk Music); 16 concurrent panel sessions; a Sunday morning business meeting; and a Friday pre-conference field trip entitled “Azaleas, Avatars, and the Mysteries of Southern Mill Village Life,” involving 17 participants, directed by Lloyd Benson, Steve O’Neill, and Sam Britt of Furman University.
The spring 2004 conference will be held at the Hickory Ridge Conference Center in Lisle, Illinois (near Chicago) from April 2-4. Keynote speakers are Laurel Kendall, American Museum of Natural History, “Vietnam Journeys: Behind the Scenes with an Exhibit Curator,” and Vasudha Narayanan, University of Florida, “From Angkor to Atlanta: Hindu Temples and Performing Arts.” A pre-conference field trip conducted by Norman Moline, Augustana College, will take participants to view various Asian cultural sites in the Chicago area, and to visit the Field Museum to see the traveling exhibit on art in the palace of the Qing Emperor Qianlong.
ASIANETWORK FREEMAN FOUNDATION PROGRAMS
Program Director: Madeline Chu, Kalamazoo College
The College in Asia Program: Under the direction of Norman Moline and associate direction of Jim Winship (both Augustana College), a faculty member and an administrator from various colleges and universities travel for three weeks through Japan, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China to study how to administer and run in-house term-in-Asia programs. The program was not run during the summer of 2003 because of the outbreak of SARS, but it will be run the summer of 2003 for ten participating institutions. Participating colleges are: Baldwin-Wallace College, Barat College of DePaul University, Drury College, Carthage College, Coe College, Goucher College, Hamline College, University of Redlands, University of Washington at Tacoma, Viterbo College.
Student-Faculty Fellows Program: Under the administrative direction of Teodora Amoloza (Illinois Wesleyan University), 13 student-faculty teams (one mentor working with one to five students, 56 individuals total) from ASIANetwork colleges were scheduled to traveled to Asia to conduct undergraduate research projects during the summer of 2003. Because of the SARS outbreak, undergraduate study was postponed until the January Interim in 2004 and the summer of 2004. Teams from the following colleges have completed January 2004 Interim study experiences: Bard College, Daemen College, Hartwick College, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, and Spelman College. Students and faculty from the following colleges will complete their study programs during the summer of 2004: Baldwin-Wallace College, California Lutheran University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Simon’s Rock College of Bard, Trinity University, Warren Wilson College, and Whitman College. Countries where undergraduate research has been and will be undertaken include: The People’s Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, ROC, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Because of the immense success of this program (during the six years it has been funded the program has supported 234 participants from 46 different colleges), the Freeman Foundation has graciously announced their decision to renew funding for a third three-year cycle of Student-Faculty Fellowships. This will enable 60 individuals to undertake research in Asia during each of the summers of 2005, 2006, and 2007.
ASIANETWORK LUCE FOUNDATION PROGRAMS
Asia in the Undergraduate Curriculum: A Case for Asian Studies in Liberal Arts Education was published by M.E. Sharpe in May 2000. Co-edited by Suzanne Wilson Barnett (University of Puget Sound) and Van J. Symons (Augustana College), the book contains six chapters which place the development of Asian studies programs in small colleges in historical context, make a compelling case for the inclusion of Asian studies in the liberal arts curriculum, and consider the challenges faced in developing and sustaining Asian studies programs. With support provided by the Luce Foundation, gift copies of this book have been presented to each college president and academic dean or provost at all ASIANetwork colleges and several other individuals. Over 700 copies of the book have been sold by M.E. Sharpe.
ASIANetwork Consultancy Advisory Program:
The ASIANetwork Consultancy Advisory Program Coordinator is Jim Leavell (Furman University). Drawing from the highly successful ASIANetwork Luce Consultancy Advisory Program, which was conducted from 1994-98, this 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. Each year about a half dozen consultancies are facilitated through this outreach program.
“ASIANetwork EXCHANGE, A Newsletter for Teaching About Asia”
The 32-page newsletter of the consortium is published three times annually, fall, winter and spring and distributed free of charge to about 1000 faculty and administrators at ASIANetwork member institutions. The editor of the newsletter is Marsha Smith (Augustana College), and the assistant editors are Nirmala Salgado (Augustana College) and Anne Prescott (Indiana University).
The ASIANetwork Website, www.asianetwork.org
The consortium’s website was created with support offered by the Henry Luce Foundation in fall 1997 and is located at St. Olaf College. Diane Clayton (Hamline University) provides board oversight for the web, and Craig Rice (St. Olaf) manages the site. During the summer and fall of 2002 the site design was changed to make it more accessible to site visitors. Use of the website has grown dramatically. This year an on-line Membership Directory of ASIANetwork members has been posted at our website.