Skip Navigation
Search
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of Asian & Asian American Studies
HomeNews and Events

Upcoming Events and News 

Breaking News!  AAAS has launched its Twitter and Instagram pages!  We want to share useful information with you through the platforms you are familiar with and connect you to the exciting things that are happening on and off campus! Please follow us and share the news! 

NEWS & EVENTS!

Effective Spring 2025, Jungmin Kang will be our AAAS Scholarship  Coordinator.

2024 Presidential Mini-Grant awarded to "Gateway to Diversity and Inclusion: Experience the Language of Other". The project is led by Jiwon Hwang, who collaborated with ohter AAAS faculty members Hannah Li, Atsuko Oyama and Eriko Sato . The mini-grant will fund a number of initiatives that will support the engagement students who have no experience with Asian language/culture b yproviding one-day Asian language open classes (“Tasting Language”) to expand their linguistic and cultural horizons and to cultivate a more inclusive and harmonious campus culture. And, to enrich language instructors’ teaching by integrating critical language pedagogy with a strong emphasis on DEI topics. This approach is to transform language classrooms into dynamic forums for critical discussion and reflection, thus empowering language learners with intercultural competence necessary to respond to today’s linguistic and cultural complexities. 

The China Studies Program is pleased to announce the 2023-2024 recipients of the annual Hu/Seifman Memorial Awards and Scholarships:
Freshman Scholarship: Emily Chen, Casandra Jiang, Huizhen Jiang, Nancy Zhou
Chinese Studies Scholarship:  Isabella Ho, Tiffany Lu
Leadership Award: Jina Ren

Congratulations to the first winners of our AAAS Study Abroad Scholarship!

Scholarship Winners

Photos: Noah Brandi (left) and Kaya Rexford (right)

The Department of Asian and Asian American Studies is proud to announce the creation of the AAAS Study Abroad Scholarship in Asia, launching in 2024. This initiative has been made possible through the generous contributions of local supporters as well as faculty, staff, alumni, and even students during the annual SBU Giving Day. The first recipients of this scholarship are Noah Brandi and Kaya Rexford. Noah will be studying in Beijing, and Kaya in Shanghai, during the summer of 2024. Each student will receive a scholarship of $500 to assist with their expenses.

Noah is a Business Management major and a China Studies minor.
He is a dedicated learner passionate about languages. During his time at Stony Brook, he achieved conversational fluency in Mandarin and passed the HSK 5 exam. Post-graduation, Noah plans to teach English in China, sharing his enthusiasm for language learning while continuing to pursue his own language goals. He would like to express special appreciation to Professor Dongmei Zeng and Professor Agnes He for being great teachers and helping him succeed during his time at Stony Brook.

Kaya is a double major in Asian and Asian American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She is expected to graduate in May 2025. Kaya chose her respective majors from the rise of anti-asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. In her future career, Kaya hopes to utilize both of her majors to work at an Asian American advocacy organization. Kaya is very grateful for this award presented by the Asian and Asian American Studies department to support her study abroad journey. She would like to give a special shoutout to Professors Dongmei Zeng and Gregory Ruf for giving their support throughout the entire process. 


IN OTHER NEWS:

Welcome, Alessandro Pagano, Our newest visiting scholar! Alessandro will be working Dr. Sato this spring 2024 semester. Learn more about his research interests here.

Our IDEA Fellow, Sandra So Hee Chi Kim, is the recipient of the David L. Ferguson Award for Excellence in Inclusive Teaching.

18th Japan Center Essay Competition sponsored by Canon USA has been announced!

* E.K. Tan, AAAS Department Chair, Selected for National Humanities Center Fellowship.  Congratulations Dr. Tan!

*  Our Japanese language adjunct, Hiroko Matsuzaki won the Harvard-Yenching Institute Cross-national Interdisciplinary Research Grant for her collaborative project with Kevin Chang from Academia Sinica (Taiwan) titled "The Local and the World: Comparative Studies of Taiwanese Academics and Writers Before, During and After World War II."

* Martin Kordas (Class of 2023) won the Special Award for the 17th Japan Center Essay Competition sponsored by Canon USA

*  Prof. Ruf talks about his experience when he was a student: "Sweet & Sour Work: The Pains and Gains of Studying China" for 2022 CAS Preview Day. (Description: Sociocultural anthropologist Greg Ruf discusses the challenges and rewards on offer for American students interested in pursuing the study of Chinese culture, language, and history. Join the conversation as this SUNY graduate from Upstate New York reflects on the personal growth and professional development opportunities leading to a meaningful and engaging career – either within or beyond one’s undergraduate academic major.)

*  Agnes He was elected to the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Executive Board.  She will be begin to serve as secretary to AAAL in March 2022.

* Testimonials from our graduates!

*  Learn Mandarin with our alumni Ashley Brown through "Mandarin on that Beat"

 * Taiko Tides makes history bringing regional conference to Stony Book!

* Chris Saunders (Class of 2017) was selected to be an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher)  for the JET (Japan Exchange Teaching) program. 

* William Chittick has been named SUNY Distinguished Professor.

SELECTED PAST NEWS & EVENTS