EASC Newsletter

A Letter from the Director

Jeffrey Wasserstrom

Dear Colleagues,

My time as Director of the Center is rapidly drawing to a close and there are two main things I want to do in this letter, which will serve as my farewell contribution to the Newsletter. First, express gratitude to all of the people who have helped me during my term as Director, and all that these same people did to make it possible for me to be leaving at a moment of celebration – due to the exciting news just in that we will be able to give out FLAS awards to graduate students again! And second, celebrate the fact that EASC will be in such good hands when I step down and Heidi Ross takes on this always challenging but rewarding position on July 1st.

I am thankful most of all to the staff of the Center. Here, I include everyone who is currently employed at EASC, and also all of those who have gone on to take up new challenges, such as Jacques Fuqua, Benita Brown and Mary Hayes, after giving a great deal to the Center. When I made the decision to take on the post of Director, I did so largely because I was confident that with such a good staff in place it would be an excellent place to work. It is with a great sense of satisfaction that I know that a similar sense of confidence has helped Heidi make her decision to sign on, and that she can start her term as we continue to revel in all this excellent staff, collectively, has accomplished, from gaining us the Goldman Sachs Award for our superb outreach record in 2005 to regaining us the ability to give FLAS awards in 2006.

I am also grateful to many other people, and at the risk of leaving out some people who deserve thanks, I want to mention a few of them. One is George Wilson, my predecessor as Director and someone who gave me the benefit of much wise counsel when I was starting out. Two others whom I want to thank are Susan Nelson and Bob Eno, the chairs of EALC with whom I have had the good fortune to work closely during my time at EASC. Last but not least, there are three high-level administrators I need to single out for the great support they have given me and the Center as a whole during my time as Director: Michael McRobbie (of OVPR), Kumble R. Subbaswamy (of the College), and of course Patrick O'Meara (of OIP). I could go on. There are, for example, many individual faculty members who have been particularly active in helping the Center thrive in recent years (from Sumie Jones, who has taken the initiative so often in bringing stimulating speakers to campus, to Mike Robinson, who has traveled on our study tours and allowed participants in these events to benefit from his deep knowledge of East Asia) and could be thanked one-by-one. But since this letter needs to be a short one, it is best to move on now to its second aim: celebrating Heidi's accession to the position of Director.

When we were able to bring Heidi here as a Professor of Education, as part of a series of wonderful hires funded by the Undergraduate Initiative Grant we received from the Freeman Foundation, the East Asian studies program at Indiana University got a major boost. She has, as all who have interacted with her since arrival know, been a superb colleague in every conceivable way. Personally, I've learned much about China from hearing her talk about her research and field experiences, and I've appreciated the way she has thrown herself into the life of the Center, especially by being such a good-spirited, creative and hard-working member of EASC's Executive Committee. I am confident that she will carry forward the initiatives that are underway, ensure that the Center remains a good place to work and a valuable asset to the University, and take EASC in exciting new directions.

It is a great feeling to be able to say goodbye knowing that someone like Heidi is taking over.

Best wishes,

Jeff

Jeffrey Wasserstrom

Heidi Ross teaches social foundations and comparative and international education courses in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department. She conducts field-based research on Chinese education and society and is particularly interested in how China's changing economic and social contexts shape the way parents and communities use public and private schools to enhance their children's life chances. Ross has written widely on educational ethnography, Chinese secondary schooling, “educational for all,” literacy and language policies, gender and education, and environmental education. Her publications include China Learns English and The Ethnographic Eye. Her current research focuses on Chinese private higher education, the relevance of the concept of social capital formation to understanding school reform in China 's local communities, the impact of non-governmental organizations on Chinese educational reform and expansion, and girls' education. This summer she and two doctoral students will be conducting survey research on educational expectations and aspirations among urban and rural junior middle school girls and boys in Shaanxi Province. Professor Ross has served as president of the Comparative and International Education Society and is currently co-editor of the field's leading journal, Comparative
Education Review.

For a longer and more personal profile, see the October 2003 issue of the EASC Newsletter

TOP