News and notes: preparing for East Asia term 2010

From left, Dr. Norm Moline, Dr. Marsha Smith, Dr. Ann Ericson, Dr. Naoko Gunji and Dr. Bob Tallitsch.

December 2009

Dr. Marsha Smith and Dr. Norm Moline are preparing for the 2010 East Asia term, the college's 14th fall program to that region. The information meeting was on Monday, Dec. 7, 2009, which coincidentally is Pearl Harbor Day.

More than 125 students were there. Dr. Moline hopes 80 will sign up by mid-January.

Professors on the upcoming East Asian term will be Dr. Ann Ericson, Dr. Naoko Gunji and Dr. Smith (director of the first half) and Dr. Moline (director of the second half) and Dr. Bob Tallitsch.

With the change in the college's calendar (starting two weeks earlier in August), the Augustana travelers no longer will be in Taipei at the time of Double Ten.

"We still will visit Taiwan, but we will miss that major celebration. I am so glad that all of you had the chance to experience 10-10!" says Dr. Moline. "And a special note to the 2007 participants: our wonderful opportunity to attend that special magnificent government party will have a "one time" status in the history of our programs."

Homecoming reunion

The 1989 term participants had a fantastic reunion, organized by Zoomie Yoshida, at the time of Homecoming. Almost 30 participants and their spouses/families returned.

"We would be delighted to work with participants from other programs to schedule a similar kind of reunion," says Dr. Moline. "I believe all of you would be amazed at how good it is to see each other to relive those great experiences and catch up on what people are doing now."

Department news

Asian Studies now has the largest number of majors and minors —27 — in the history of the program.

Asian Student Organization

Asian Studies courses now exist in the following fields: art history, biology, business administration, Chinese language and culture, geography, history, Japanese language and culture, music, political science, religion, and sociology.

Two consultants will visit the college in December to review the Asian Studies program, coming up with suggestions on how to make it stronger.

Dr. Peter Xiao from the Art Department and Dr. Van Symons from History now share coordinator responsibilities for the Asian Studies program. "By the way, Van has recovered amazingly well from his scary severe heart attack on the 2007 program," says Dr. Moline.

The Asian Student Organization is active and holds weekly meetings.

Faculty news

• Dr. Jen-mei Ma continues her outstanding service in Chinese language, assisted each year by a different person sent from Huazhong Normal University.
• Augustana now has two new faculty positions in Japanese studies: Dr. Naoko Gunji in art history and Dr. Mari Nagase in Japanese language, expanding the adjunct role filled so admirably by Michiru Shearer into a full-time permanent position. Michi continues on an adjunct basis, enabling that department now to offer three years of Japanese.
• The college also has other new faculty members with Asian backgrounds: Xiaowen Zhang (political science) and Lina Zhou (business administration) from China; Sohyun An (education) from Korea; Umme Al Wazedi (English) from Bangladesh; and Sushmita Chatterjee (political science) from India.

"When these additions are added to our long-term faculty from Asia (Peter Xiao from China, Jen-mei Ma from Taiwan and Nirmala Salgado from Sri Lanka), we have the most diversity in the history of our program," reports Dr. Moline.

• Dr. Moline wrote an article for the May-June issue of the Journal of Geography entitled: "International Studies Become Pilgrimages: Geography in a Multi-discipline Overseas Program". If you would like to read that article which uses the East Asia term as the case study, please look for it online or send Dr. Moline an email and he will send you a copy.
• Dr. Smith is on the Board of Directors of ASIANetwork, the national association of liberal arts colleges which have Asian Studies programs. Dr. Symons continues to serve as coordinator of ASIANetwork's student-faculty fellows program.
• Dr. Ericson (business administration), using her growing expertise on Vietnam, developed and directed the college's first international term there in the winter of 2009. She has taught at Vietnam University - Ho Chi Minh City for three summers.

Where we are, where we've been

The Vikings men's basketball team toured China in 2007 in preparation for what turned out to be a CCIW championship season.

• Five recent graduates are teaching in the English departments as Huazhong Normal University in Wuhan. Each year Augustana sends five or six people for such work as "foreign experts" on that large university's faculty.
• Five underclass students are studying for a semester at Lingnan University in Hong Kong with which Augustana has had an exchange agreement since 2005. In exchange that university sends students to study here for the fall trimester.
• Augustana's basketball team toured China in 2007, winning all five games, including against a main professional team in the inaugural game before a packed house in the new 6,000-seat stadium in Huhhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Under the NCAA Division III triennial limit on international travel, the team will return to China next August with Norm Moline serving as the trip coordinator