China exchange funded

Skidmore will start a new study-abroad program in Beijing, China, thanks to more than $900,000 from the Freeman Foundation’s Undergraduate Asian Studies Funding Initiative.
     Beginning in the spring of 2004, up to ten students will study at an affiliated university in the city of Beijing—the center of Chinese political life and the site of the 2008 Olympics. The curriculum will emphasize interdisciplinary study of Chinese culture and will include language training and field study. Open to students from Skidmore and other colleges, the program may eventually serve twenty students per year.
     Prerequisites include a year of Mandarin Chinese and a course in Chinese literature, history, art history, or anthropology. Upon their return, students will engage in activities designed to share their experiences with the campus community. Skidmore President Jamienne S. Studley expects the program “to strengthen our commitment to intercultural studies and provide the entire campus with considerably greater capacity in teaching and learning about Asia.”
     The Freeman grant also funds the development of new or revised Skidmore courses to incorporate material on Chinese culture. The grant will help Skidmore faculty travel to China; likewise, Chinese faculty and students will be able to visit and study at Skidmore.
     To administer the program, Skidmore will hire a resident director and an activities coordinator in China; in addition, a program coordinator will be based at Skidmore. Faculty in the college’s Asian studies program will coordinate the academic aspects. —AW, SR

Editor’s note: This year’s New York Conference for Asian Studies will be held at Skidmore on October 25 and 26. The theme of the conference is “Asia: Image, Imaging, and Imagination.”
The conference is open to the public; for details, visit www.skidmore.edu/nycas2002