EASC
Newsletter: January 2002
Recent Events
East Asian Studies Center
Awarded $2 Million Grant
On December 31, EASC received what was undoubtedly one of the finest Christmas gifts ever delivered in Bloomington when a letter arrived containing a check for $494,677. It was accompanied by a letter awarding EASC a four-year grant under the Freeman Foundation Undergraduate Funding Initiative for Asian Studies. The total award is $1,991,036.
The Freeman Foundation, a private family foundation based in Stowe, Vermont and Honolulu, Hawaii, announced the initiative in February 2001 and invited applications from U.S. colleges and universities with existing Asian Studies programs. IU's EASC was among the fortunate recipients to receive close to the maximum grant offered under the initiative.
The Undergraduate Funding Initiative for Asian Studies grant reflects in part the respect and trust cultivated by EASC during the past five years of association with the Freeman Foundation. The Freeman Foundation is one of the EASC's major sources of funding, supporting the K-12 teacher education courses, workshops, and high school exchange programs offered by EASC.
The grant proposal was built on the theme of "Communicating East Asia," and contained three primary goals. The first, to which the bulk of the funding is dedicated, is the desire to integrate an East Asian presence into disciplines where there has traditionally been little or no coverage. This will be met primarily by adding three faculty lines at IU, one each to the School of Education, Kelley School of Business, and College of Arts and Sciences. Under the proposal, the Freeman Foundation will fund the positions for four years, after which the university will assume responsibility for the permanent positions. EASC will also fund professional development for current faculty and sponsor visits by scholars and established journalists to the School of Journalism.
The second goal is to raise awareness of East Asia among the undergraduate population, primarily by adding courses, speakers, and overseas study and internship opportunities. This also includes funding for the existing Japan House and planned China and Korea Houses, to serve as residential language housing for IU students.
Finally, EASC hopes to enhance its long-running community outreach and K-12 educational programs. This includes funding a planned distance-learning project involving interactive video conferencing between IU faculty and students at schools throughout Indiana.
The East Asian Studies Center has received a $40,000 grant from the Toshiba International Foundation for assistance in publishing the Anthology of Edo Period Literature. The grant covers the first year of a planned four-year project. IU Professor Sumie Jones is supervising the project, and is currently soliciting and compiling translation pieces. Volume 2, covering the late Edo period, is being prepared under contract with the University of Hawaii Press. Those interested in the project may contact Professor Jones. Further coverage of the anthology will be provided in the May issue of the EASC Newsletter.
Korean
Literary Critic
Selected as Patten Lecturer
The 2002-03 Patten Lecture Series at Indiana University will include Kim Uchang, Professor of English Literature at Korea University. Professor Kim was successfully nominated by a group of EALC faculty, including Sumie Jones, Hyo Sang Lee, Michael Robinson, and Jeff Wasserstrom.
Professor Kim is an internationally-known literary critic, expert on third world literature, and one of South Korea's most prominent public intellectuals. He will visit Bloomington during the Spring semester of 2003. As well as delivering two public Patten lectures, Kim will participate in EALC classes and programs at the Center for Advanced Studies. Associate Professor Michael Robinson notes that his visit "will stimulate public awareness of the richness of public debates in Korea, while adding a unique voice to our campus debates on the direction of Humanities studies in the Academy and the centrality of the humanities in wider political and social discourse in the United States."
The Patten Lecture Series brings three or four prominent intellectuals and academics to Indiana University each year. The selection committee solicits nominees from any academic field, often with an international focus. Recent Patten lecturers have included Benjamin Bagby, Wole Soyinka, and Edward Said. Professor Kim will be the first East Asian lecturer in over ten years.