Lawrence University Asian Studies Program Receives $1.5 Million Boost; Expanded Travel Opportunities, Japanese Language Instruction Supported by Major Grant

APPLETON, WIS. -- More than 6,000 miles separate Lawrence University's downtown Appleton campus and the great Asian cities of Tokyo, Japan, and Beijing, China. But those distant locales will soon seem much closer thanks to one of the largest foundation grants Lawrence has ever received.

The growing global importance and influence of the Pacific Rim is about to assume a commensurate role in Lawrence's curriculum with the support of a $1.5 million grant awarded by the Freeman Foundation.

The grant, the second-largest from a foundation in Lawrence's history, will support an expanded emphasis on Asian perspectives throughout the college's academic disciplines, providing first-hand study opportunities for students and faculty throughout China and Japan and funding the addition of Japanese language instruction to the curriculum.

"The Freeman Foundation grant builds upon a strong tradition of external support for our program in Asian studies and promises to make Lawrence one of the most attractive places in the country at which to study the languages, literatures, and cultures of China and Japan," said Brian Rosenberg, dean of the faculty, in announcing the grant.

The most tangible aspect of the grant will enable Lawrence to supplement its current East Asian language and cultures courses with the addition of the college's first full-time, tenure-track faculty appointment in Japanese language instruction beginning with the 2002-2003 academic year. The grant will support the faculty position's salary for four years, with Lawrence maintaining the position after that.

At the heart of the grant, however, will be the addition of new courses and components of current courses devoted to East Asia as well as expanded travel opportunities for Lawrence students and faculty to visit Asia, particularly China and Japan, for on-site course work, research and scholarly collaboration with peers.

"Over the next four years, we expect to send literally dozens of members of the Lawrence community on trips there," said Rosenberg. "In effect, we will be strengthening the study of East Asia at Lawrence by bringing the campus, at least temporarily, to East Asia itself."

Lawrence, through its membership in the Associated Colleges in China Program, a consortium of five national liberal arts colleges, currently offers one extended (10-, 14- or 16-week long) study abroad program in China for students. That program offers intensive Chinese language study at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing.

Jane Parish Yang, associate professor of East Asian languages and cultures and chair of the EALC department, envisions the grant invigorating broad aspects of the Lawrence curriculum.

"This grant will provide us some truly exciting opportunities to expose not only students, but faculty members of diverse disciplines as well, to Asian culture,² said Yang. "By incorporating faculty members on these trips, we hope to infuse the Asian perspective into many of our interdisciplinary programs, including Freshman Studies, environmental studies and international relations."

"We'll have opportunities to explore and experience historical as well as modern Asian culture and meet with Asian academics and intellectuals," Yang added. "But more importantly, these trips will be the impetus for us to bring that culture and perspective back to Lawrence and our classrooms."

In addition to the Lawrence community, local high school teachers and schools also will benefit from the Freeman grant. Each year, two area high school teachers will be selected to accompany Lawrence students and faculty on trips to Asia as a means of encouraging and fostering the study of Asian cultures at the secondary level through the teacher's incorporation of their experiences in their schools and classrooms.

The Freeman grant is the latest coup for Lawrence's burgeoning Asian studies program, which has received six major grants since 1989, when the department of East Asian Languages and Cultures was established. Last August, Lawrence was awarded $300,000 by the Henry Luce Foundation to establish a new faculty position in political economy for East and Southeast Asia and provide program activities, including travel opportunities, student internships and a lecture series featuring business leaders and government specialists discussing contemporary issues.

"This grant could not come at a better time," said Rosenberg. "It is a strong reinforcement of other ongoing initiatives in Asian studies at Lawrence, including the new focus on the political economy of East Asia supported by the Henry Luce Foundation and our expanding relationship with Waseda University in Tokyo. Clearly Lawrence is in the process of transforming and intensifying our study of a portion of the world that will be of critical global importance in the coming decades."

Indicative of its hoped-for curriculum-wide infusion, the Freeman grant will be administered by a core group of Lawrence faculty with expertise in a wide variety of disciplines. Joining Yang in overseeing the grant's implementation will be Claudena Skran, associate professor of government; Franklin Doeringer, Nathan M. Pusey Professor of East Asian Studies and professor of history; Kuo-ming Sung, associate professor of East Asian languages and cultures; Mark Frazier, assistant professor of government; Dirck Vorenkamp, assistant professor of religious studies; Chong-do Hah, Karl E. Stansbury Professor of Government; and Yoko Nagase, assistant professor of economics.