Spring 2022 Endowed Lecture Series
The Center for Asian Studies is committed to providing opportunities for the University community to engage in Asian and Asian American cultures. We offer a variety of expert-led lectures throughout the semester such as, The Anlin Ku Lecture on Chinese Culture, Carmen R. & Joseph G. Schneidler Lecture on Pan-Asian Culture, Charlie’s TechTalks and more. See our upcoming and past lectures below.
Spring 2022
Anlin Ku Lecture & OAH Distinguished Lecture with Erika Lee
Thursday, February 24 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Free virtual event.
As part of the Anlin Ku Lecture hosted by both the CAS and the UTD School of Arts & Humanities, Dr. Erika Lee from the Organization of American Historians (OAH) will give a virtual lecture via Zoom based on her book, The Making of Asian America, on Feb. 24 at 6 p.m.
As the fastest-growing group in the United States, Asian Americans are helping to change America. But much of their long history has been forgotten. In a lecture that spans centuries and continents, Lee shows that the long history of Asian Americans offers a new way of understanding America itself, its complicated histories of race and immigration, and its place in the world today.
Lee is President-Elect of the Organization of American Historians and a Regents Professor, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History, and Director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. The granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, Lee was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and testified before Congress in its historic hearings on anti-Asian discrimination and violence. She is the author of four award-winning books including The Making of Asian America (2015) and America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in America (2019), which won the American Book Award and the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, as well as other honors. Named to many best books lists and identified as an essential book illuminating the Trump era and the 2020 elections, it was recently re-published with a new epilogue on xenophobia and racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Making of Asian America was also recently republished with a new postscript about the latest campaigns against Asian Americans. Lee directs three major digital humanities projects: Immigrant Stories, #ImmigrationSyllabus, and Immigrants in COVID America and also regularly appears in the media, including featured appearances in the PBS film series “Asian Americans,” the History Channel’s “America: The Promised Land,” and interviews with CNN, PBS NewsHour, National Public Radio, the BBC, the New York Times, ABC News, NBC News, and many podcasts. Her opinion pieces have been published in the Washington Post, Time, the New York Daily News, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times.
Forum: Fireside Chat with Dr. John Brender, Iris Wu, Noah Lipnick, and Lauren Menkemeller
Thursday, February 17 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Free virtual event. Watch the Fireside Chat recording.
Dr. John Brender, author of “Millennial Expats in China: Experiences and Observations”, will be having a virtual fireside chat with Iris Wu, Noah Lipnick, and Lauren Menkemeller. They will be discussing their perspectives on what it’s like to live in a foreign country.
Dr. John Brender is Director of Special Initiatives for the Office of International Programs at Wayne State University, in Detroit, Michigan. Professionally dedicated to language and cultural education, he has taught Spanish, Japanese, linguistics, foreign-language teaching methods, and English as a second language. He has also presented multiple lectures on cross-cultural communication in China and the U.S. Dr. Brender’s research has focused principally on international and ethnic student identity and values at North American universities and on North American experiences abroad. He is actively involved with the Great Lakes Chinese Consortium, an online source for Chinese language and cultural learning, of which he is a co-founding member. Between 2008 and 2021, Dr. Brender served as Director of the Confucius Institute at Wayne State University.
Based on extensive interviews with 20 diverse, North American expats, Dr. Brender’s recently published book, “Millennial Expats in China”, is a roadmap that will take the reader from culture shock and an array of inevitable misunderstandings to better comprehending a culture that is often elusive and wildly misrepresented in the West. It is a book that is as much about overcoming obstacles and evolving as a person as it is about China, its people, its institutions, and its wide array of international residents. Whether you are a current or future sojourner to China, a concerned family member, or someone with a healthy curiosity about the Middle Kingdom, you’ll be interested in this book that showcases China through the eyes of a diverse group of outsiders!
Forum: “Adventuring: A Cross-Generational and Cross-Cultural Conversation”
Sunday, January 9 from 4 to 6 p.m. Free virtual event. Click Watch the recording of “Adventuring”.
A cross-generational and cross-cultural conversation that will explore the concept of education as adventure and impact of being both American and Chinese on enhancing – or constricting – that quest. Dr. Dennis Kratz, Director of the CAS, and Dr. Da Hsuan Feng, Chair of the CAS International Advisory Council, will be in conversation with two students, Michelle Liang and Frank Zhou.
Michelle Liang is a freshman at MIT, currently planning on studying computer science and Comparative Media Studies. Throughout high school, she was involved in a variety of academic interests, including robotics, film, dance, and the classics (Latin). Her current dream is to find a career that combines both of her loves for STEM and art, potentially within the video game industry. Outside the classroom, she loves to play video games, draw, watch anime, and cook.
Frank Zhou is a Senior at Phillips Academy, where he is the editor of the campus literary magazine and has coordinated 90+ climate advocacy events. His archival research on the history of China-U.S. educational exchange is supported by the Academy’s Community and Multicultural Development Scholarship. His creative writing and Chinese-English translations can be found in the Chinese Film Classics Project at the University of British Columbia. He’s recently become an A-list smoothie enthusiast after tasting dozens of his younger sister’s newest recipes.