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Asian Studies

About the program

Augustana College offers a major and minor in Asian studies, as well as a minor in Chinese. Many students of Asian studies take classes in the Chinese or Japanese languages, along with courses or a second major or minor in disciplines such as history, anthropology, sociology, business administration or the arts.
  • The mission of the Asian studies program is two-fold: the program enriches the education of students from a full range of majors, to enhance their global understanding and provide a richer cultural context for their major studies; and the program provides a wide choice of direction for students who major or minor in Asian studies. For example, students may choose to focus on modern and traditional Asian cultures and societies, contemporary Asian politics, economic links between the U.S. and other nations of the Pacific Rim, or global environmental issues.
  • The Asian languages faculty are native speakers with extensive traveling experience in China and Japan. Each year, the faculty welcome a visiting scholar in Chinese from Hua Zhong Normal University in Wuhan, China. Faculty in the Asian studies department also include professors of art, art history, biology, business administration, geography, history, political science, religion and sociology.
  • Augustana’s program has won much recognition over the years. From 1999-2005 the college served as headquarter for ASIANetwork, a consortium of more than 170 colleges committed to strengthening the Asian studies programming on their campuses. The college also has received many grants to support its program, from such places as the United Board for Christian Higher Education, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the Japan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. One of the most impactful was a $549,000 “Building Bridges” grant from the Freeman Foundation, which has provided funding for faculty and student research in Asia, language study student fellowships to China or Japan, and a recent Augustana Choir tour of China.

    From Augustana to Asia

    Student Clare Webster snapped this photo on the Vietnam Term trip in 2009.
    • Augustana’s extensive East Asia fall term program began in 1974 and has been offered every three years since, taking faculty and students of different majors for coursework and travel in Japan, Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In addition to the traditional fall terms abroad, the college has developed several “focused” terms, including a spring term in India and a winter term in Vietnam. Augustana also has sent students to Hua Zhong Normal University and International Christian University for summer language study.
    • Augustana participates in an undergraduate exchange program with Lingnan University in Hong Kong, in which two students from each institution spend the fall term studying at the other school.
    • For more than 20 years Augustana has sustained an annual faculty and student exchange program with Hua Zhong Normal University in Wuhan, China, which brings language instructors to Augustana and sends up to seven new Augustana graduates to teach English and study mandarin Chinese at the university.
    • Each year the renowned Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program and the AEON program accept approximately five recent Augustana graduates to teach English in junior or senior high schools, local government offices or private corporations in Japan.

    What students say

    Sara Oesleby ’10, Asian studies major, history minor:
    “In my sophomore year, we spent eleven weeks traveling through Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China. It was a great cultural immersion experience that I don’t think I could have gotten anywhere else. We took classes on history, economics, sociology, and art while we traveled. The best interaction was that we were able to travel to the places, and see things that related right back to the subject matter at hand. It was an eye-opening experience that helped me to understand what East Asia really meant. On campus there also are several opportunities for students interested in Asian studies. The main one I participate in is the student group ASO (Asian Student Organization). Each week, we experience some new part of the culture—from going to restaurants, to playing Mahjong. We have a large Asian Night in the winter with entertainment and a buffet of Asian foods from local restaurants, inviting the whole campus to attend.”

    Bob Lyons ’08, political science major, Chinese and Spanish minors:
    “I really enjoyed the Asian languages department at Augustana. I found the professors to be so concerned about their students that learning Chinese, which many people see as a difficult language, was actually fairly easy and even fun. I must credit the department for the opportunities it gave me for research, study abroad, and eventually teaching abroad. The Asian languages department is a jewel, and Augustana is privileged to be one of the few colleges with a four-year Chinese program."