It's an exciting time to be involved in Asian Studies at Penn State. Things feel possible: good conversation, intellectual labor, personal and instititional growth in a number of directions, decided and unknown.
The big news over the summer was the approval of major changes to our undergraduate programs, including big shifts in the major and minor in Japanese, and in the major and minor in Asian Studies (formerly East Asian Studies). The university also approved the Chinese major, which is now available; Penn State will graduate its first B.A.s in Chinese in May 2010. At the graduate level, the university approved the outline of the dual-title PhD program; now we need to work on building relationships with specific departments so that we can offer degrees. That process should be complete by the end of this academic year, and we should welcome our first class of graduate students in Fall 2010.
We'll have a number of major events this year, including the Global Asias conference, which will be held October 22-25. Salon.com columnist Andrew Leonard will be the first guest in our "Careers in Asia" series, and we'll be hosting a number of other speakers and events as part of the China Forum series.
In the last few months faculty in Asian Studies have published several new books, all of which make great gifts for birthdays and other special events. Be sure to check out Shuang Shen's Cosmopolitan Publics, Alex Huang's Chinese Shakespeares, Kumkum Chatterjee's The Cultures of History in Early Modern India, and Denis Simon and Cong Cao's China's Emerging Technological Edge.
One of the goals of the program is to create an climate that is open to the possiblity of intellectual and historical surprise. If Asian Studies doesn't elevate its faculty, doesn't produce better scholarship, allow us to recruit and train great graduate students, and help teach undergraduates we're proud of, it's not doing its job. Please let us know if you can think of ways we might be doing those things better.
Eric Hayot
August 2009
Make a Gift
Gifts by PSU friends and alums have already given the Asian Studies Program a great deal of support, providing funds for faculty research, conferences and workshops, language teaching, and other program activities. New gifts directed to the Asian Studies Program will help us build our academic programs and enhance our ability to provide students with financial assistance to meet and exceed their academic goals. Thank you for considering a gift to the Department.
Sophie Penney, Director of the Liberal Arts Alumni Relations and Development office, will be glad to talk with you about various ways your gift might be used. Annual gifts, which are a commitment to donate each year, typically go to undergraduate student support, enrichment opportunities like internships and study abroad, bolstering student-group activities, and enhancing the teaching experience more generally. More substantial gifts can be used in a great variety of ways; Sophie Penney or Eric Hayot, the director of the program, would be glad to talk with you about the range of options.
On-line Giving
If you would like to make an on-line gift to the program, please click here. Please note: To ensure the funds are directed to the Asian Studies Program you will have to write “Asian Studies Program" in the comments field when you make your gift through Penn State’s centralized secure server.
For further questions about giving to Penn State’s Asian Studies Program, please contact:
The College of the Liberal Arts
Alumni Relations and Development
The Pennsylvania State University
138 Sparks Building
University Park, PA 16802-5200
Phone: 814-863-1827
Fax: 814-865-56055
Your gifts make a difference. Thank you!
