A Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges to Promote Asian Studies
2005-2006 Annual Report of the ASIANetwork,
A Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges
To Promote Asian Studies
Submitted to The Association for Asian Studies
April 3, 2006
by Dr. Teodora O. Amoloza
Executive Director, ASIANetwork
INTRODUCTION
ASIANetwork, conceptualized in 1992 and incorporated in 1993, has grown to become a consortium of over 150 liberal arts colleges seeking to strengthen the study of Asia on our campuses. During the summer of 2005, the headquarters of ASIANetwork moved to Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, and Dr. Teodora O. Amoloza became the consortium's new 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. This report bridges the work of the 2004-2005 board chair, Joan O'Mara (Washington & Lee University) and the 2005-2006 board chair, P. Richard Bohr (College of St. Benedict and St. John's University).
CURRENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF ASIANETWORK
The Board of Directors of ASIANetwork includes the Executive Director, nine board members and the past board chair as ex-officio member. As ex-officio member, the past board chair has no voting privilege. The current board members are:
- Teodora O. Amoloza, Illinois Wesleyan University, (2005-2006), Executive Director
- Richard Bohr, College of Saint Benedict and St. John's University, (2003-2006) chair, board of directors
- Donald Clark, Trinity University, (2005-2008)
- T. James Kodera, Wellesley College, (2005-2008)
- Phyllis Larson, St. Olaf College, (2004-2007), vice-chair, board of directors
- Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker, Mills College, (2005-2008)
- Paul Nietupski, John Carroll University, (2003-2006)
- Chia Ning, Central College, (2003-2006)
- Joan O'Mara, Washington & Lee University, (2002-2005), ex-officio past chair of the board
- Jim Peterman, Sewanee, University of the South (2004-2007)
- Lawrence Schultz, St. Andrews Presbyterian College (2005-2007)
COUNCIL OF ADVISORS
- David Adams, Senior Program Officer, Asia, Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), (2004-2007)
- Lucien Ellington, Editor, Education about Asia, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, (2003-2006)
- Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of Japanese History, Columbia University, (2004-2007)
- James Huffman, Professor of History, Wittenberg University (2005-2008)
- 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)
- Richard Smith, George and Nancy Rupp Professor of Humanities, Rice University, (2004-2007)
- Anthony Yu, Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor in Humanities, The University of Chicago, retired, (2004-2007) # Richard Wood, President, United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, (2003-2006)
MEMBERSHIP
At the end of the 2004-2005 academic year ASIANetwork had 167 institutional members (124 full, 34 associate, 9 affiliate members plus 9 affiliate individual members); 12 new institutional members joined the consortium during the fiscal year September 1, 2004 through August 31, 2005. As of this writing, 148 institutional members renewed their memberships and 14 new members joined the consortium for a total of 162 member institutions (plus six affiliate individuals) in the 2005-2006 academic year. ASIANetwork has a solid core base of support as evidenced by the fact that over 50 institutions have been ASIANetwork members for 10 or more years, and over 50 additional institutions have been members for 5 or more years.
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 over 1,100 individuals. Faculty members 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 are given priority.
ASIANETWORK ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Venue: Radisson Hotel, Whittier, California
Date: April 21-24, 2005
Attendance: 150 approx.
The spring 2005 conference was hosted by Whittier College and held at the Radisson Hotel in Whittier, California from April 21-24, 2005. It was jointly sponsored by ASIANetwork and the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) of the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Conference highlights included: a pre-conference field trip to a Buddhist Temple and to the Norton Simon Museum; keynote addresses by Bruce Cumings (the University of Chicago) titled "Decoupled from History: Korea in the 'Axis of Evil'" and Roger T. Ames (the University of Hawaii at Manoa) titled "Translating Among Cultures: How Meaning is Made". There were two plenary sessions; the first by Betty Buck, Co-Director of ASDP, Van J. Symons, Executive Director of ASIANetwork and Ronnie Littlejohn of Belmont University who is an ASDP alumnus and a participant at an ASIANetwork program, introduced each organization to the members. The second plenary session discussed the recently funded "Asian Arts in the Undergraduate Curriculum Grant". There were 34 concurrent panel sessions; a reception provided by our hosts was held at Whittier College. Before the reception, students from Whitman College who learned the Yabonuchi tradition of tea ceremony during their ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows travel to Japan in 2004 performed a demonstration for the conference attendees. At the Business meeting following the Saturday dinner, Van J. Symons, retiring Executive Director was feted by the membership and presented with a plaque of appreciation and a scrapbook compilation of messages from ASIANetwork colleagues.
The conference this year will be held at the Hickory Ridge Marriott Conference Hotel in Lisle, IL on April 21-23, 2006. Featured speakers are Richard Bresnahan, Artist-in-Residence and Master Potter at Saint John's University in Minnesota whose talk is titled "Ancient Fires to a Humane Future: Asia as the Foundation to Twenty-first Century Environmentalism" and Fred de Sam Lazaro, international correspondent, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, whose talk is titled "Making Distant Stories Relevant". A showing of the Emmy award winning documentary on Richard Bresnahan's life and work will cap his Friday evening keynote address. The conference also features two plenary sessions, one titled "Web Tools for Teaching Asian Studies" chaired by Sarah Withee of Colorado College and the other presented by Charles Nolley on "The Use of Documentary and Telecommunication in Academic and Cultural Exchanges with Asia." There will be seventeen concurrent sessions including a panel presentation by Vietnamese faculty exchange scholars and their hosts as well as a drumming demonstration on Saturday evening by the Taiko Club of St. Olaf College.
ASIANETWORK FREEMAN FOUNDATION PROGRAM
Student-Faculty Fellows Program: Under my administrative direction initially and then continued by Van J. Symons (Augustana College) when I assumed my current position, 12 student-faculty teams (one mentor working with one to five students, 65 individuals total) from ASIANetwork colleges traveled to China, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand during summer of 2005. The home colleges of the teams and their destinations were: Austin College (Taiwan), Beloit College, (China), Dickinson College (China), Fairfield University (China), Lawrence University (Philippines), Northern Kentucky University (Thailand), Sewanee: The University of the South (China), Southwestern University (Japan), St. Mary's College of Maryland (Thailand), St. Olaf College (2 teams, one to Japan and one to China), and Trinity University (South Korea).
Because of the immense success of this program (during the seven years of funding the program has supported 299 participants from 54 different colleges), the Freeman Foundation has graciously provided $1,251,524 in renewed funding for a third three-year cycle of Student-Faculty Fellowships. We are in the second year of this third funding cycle. This will enable a minimum of 120 individuals to undertake research in Asia during each of the summers of 2006, and 2007.
Careful management of Freeman resources has enabled ASIANetwork to offer funding to thirteen research teams (65 individuals altogether) for the summer 2006 programs. Research will be conducted this summer in four different areas of East and Southeast Asia: The People's Republic of China (seven teams), Indonesia (one team), Japan (four teams), and Singapore (one team). The home colleges of the research teams and their destinations are: Elon University (Japan), Gettysburg College (Singapore), Green Mountain College (China), Guilford College (China), Haverford College (Indonesia), John Carroll University (China), Loyola Marymount University (Japan), Marietta College (China), Mills College (China), Oglethorpe University (Japan), Trinity University (China), Valparaiso University (China), and Wittenberg University (Japan). Of these 13 teams ten are from institutions that have not received this award before.
ASIANETWORK LUCE FOUNDATION PROGRAMS
Asian Art in the Undergraduate Curriculum: We received from The Henry Luce Foundation the last installment of the $370,000 grant to enable twenty-four ASIANetwork member colleges to invite art historians and art specialists to their campuses to evaluate Asian art and material resources in their collections. Based on these consultancies, a book will be produced, along with an accompanying DVD and web materials of images of the art that is discovered, that will make the case for more effective integration of Asian art into the classroom, and also focus on the historical connections between American colleges and Asia as evidenced in these collections. The Asian Art in the Undergraduate Curriculum book, co-edited by Paul Nietupski (John Carroll University) and Joan O'Mara (Washington & Lee University) will become the first volume in a set of teaching resources that will be proposed to the Association for Asian Studies as part of the "Resources for Teaching about Asia" series. Editor-in-chief of the AN teaching resources series is Rita Kipp (Sewanee, University of the South).
During the first year, the following eight schools received consultancy visits: Beloit College, Connecticut College, DePauw University, Dickinson College, Eckerd College, Earlham College, Guilford College, and Wittenberg University. Eight more schools are scheduled to receive consultancy visits during the 2006-2007 academic year. They are: College of Wooster, Fairfield University, Luther College, Marietta College, Ohio Wesleyan University, St. Lawrence University, Union College, and Washington & Lee University. Another eight schools will receive consultancy visits during the last round in 2007-2008. Announcement about the last round of consultancies is up on the ASIANetwork homepage and flyers will be distributed soon.
A $300,000 "Securing the Future of ASIANetwork" Grant received in June 2001 from the Henry Luce Foundation that ends this year helps support the following activities:
ASIANetwork Consultancy Advisory Program: The ASIANetwork Consultancy Advisory Program Coordinator is Joan O'Mara (Washington and LeeUniversity). 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. Twenty-two consultancies were conducted under the Luce grant; 23 consultancies were conducted after the grant expired; four consultancies were conducted in 2004-2005 and three consultancies were conducted this year.
"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 over 1100 faculty and administrators at ASIANetwork member institutions. The current co-editors of the newsletter are Thomas Lutze and Irving Epstein with Patra Noonan as layout editor (Illinois Wesleyan 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. Use of the website has grown dramatically. An on-line Directory of ASIANetwork Members is posted at our website and is widely utilized. The agreement with St. Olaf College to continue to host the website for the next five years is currently being renewed.
FULBRIGHT-HAYS GROUP STUDIES ABROAD PROGRAM: PEARL RIVER DELTA FACULTY DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS
In collaboration with the Hong Kong America Center, and with funds provided by the Department of Education, fifteen faculty from ASIANetwork member colleges participated in a 3-1/2 week faculty development seminar during the summer of 2005 in the Pearl River Delta region of South China. Faculty were divided into five groups, three to a group, to explore issues such as the development of new business enterprises in the area; the impact of economic growth on Chinese society, especially as it concerns migrant laborers from other parts of China; the impact of economic development and urbanization on traditional Chinese culture; the roles of government at national, provincial, county, and local levels in fostering social and economic development; and the development of regional planning strategies.
A second Pearl River Delta Faculty Development seminar focused on the history and culture of the region is currently under consideration by Fulbright-Hays. If funded, this will enable another group of 15 faculty members to study the rich cultural and historical heritage of the region. Participants for the program have already been selected and are divided into the following groups: four in Historical Memories and Interpretations, four in Philosophy and Religion; three in South China's Connection to the World; and four in Traditional and Contemporary Culture. The travel seminar will take place on July 21-August 14, 2006.
THE CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE WITH VIETNAM/AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES/ASIANETWORK FACULTY EXCHANGE PROGRAM
With funding provided by the Henry Luce Foundation, CEEVN/ACLS/AN are working together to enable faculty from Vietnamese Universities (4 each year) to spend semester long periods at ASIANetwork member colleges to examine the academic environment, teaching methods, and curricula of the host institutions, and to stimulate academic exchanges and long-term relationships between North American liberal arts colleges and universities in Vietnam. As part of the exchange, during the summers of 2006 and 2007, the grant provides funds to select appropriate scholars from the North American host schools to be guests at the Vietnamese universities involved in the exchange. Three Vietnamese scholars are currently being hosted by ASIANetwork member schools now: Phan Quang Minh at Pomona College (Claremont, CA), Nguyen Quy Thanh at the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA), Tran Thi Phuong Phuong at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Geneva, NY), and a fourth scholar, Lam Thi My Dzung will be hosted by Marlboro College (Marlboro, VT) in the Fall. In summer 2006, each host school will send a faculty member to Vietnam as part of the exchange. Four AN schools were already chosen to host four more Vietnamese scholars next academic year, namely: Edgewood College in Madison, WI, Millikin University in Decatur, IL, the University of Findlay in Findlay, OH, and Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. Selection of the Vietnamese scholars will take place in the summer.
"RESOURCES FOR UNDERGRADUATE TEACHING" BOOK SERIES
ASIANetwork is currently planning to publish several volumes for its "Resources for Undergraduate Teaching" series. These books will be submitted to AAS for inclusion in its "Resources for Teaching About Asia" series. The first book in the series is the end product of the Asian Art in the Undergraduate Curriculum project funded by the Luce Foundation. At its Fall Board meeting, the board approved the following topics for the series: Asian Missionary Archives, Asian Performing Arts, Asian-American Histories, Asian Cartography/Geography, Asian Media, and Asian Contemporary Religions. The Development Committee is currently investigating sources for funding for this book series.