A recent grant of $1.25 million from the Freeman Foundation, of New York City, will strengthen the College's East Asian Studies program.
With the support of the grant, the College plans to:
- Add two new faculty members, one of whom will specialize in East Asian art history;
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Enhance the study abroad programs in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam by using interactive digital technologies and by adding an arts study week to each program;
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Provide support for East Asian Studies majors to conduct field research in Asia and for faculty to introduce or expand East Asian components into existing courses in a variety of disciplines;
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Organize and conduct a major annual conference on culture, technology, and the arts in East Asia.
Joyce Madancy, associate professor of history, said the Freeman Foundaton grant will “give us a larger net to cast to bring students into our courses. Having an art historian in East Asian studies, for example, is a good introduction to getting students interested in courses in language, history, politics, and philosophy.”
The College also wants to build on the ideas begun by engineering students with their International Virtual Design Studio, in which Union students team with foreign students on research, and the Fiji project, which connects students who are doing field work in Fiji with students back on campus.
“It would be great for students in our course on modern Japan to follow a tour through the Hiroshima Peace Museum,” Madancy says. “The goal is not only to make the courses here more interesting and relevant, but to get students more interested in going on terms abroad.”
The College offered its first courses on China and Japan about twenty-five years ago, and terms abroad were introduced in Japan in 1984 and in China in 1986. The East Asian Studies program became official in 1988. The program focuses on the language and culture of East Asia and is designed primarily for students seeking careers in business, government service, law, or journalism, and for those intending to enter graduate school. Majors in the program must take fourteen courses that include anthropology, economics, history, modern languages and literatures, and political science. About a half dozen students graduate each year with a focus on East Asian Studies.