Description
RECOMMENDATION: Discretionary grant of $46,000 to the F.Y. Chang Foundation, US-China Education Trust ( www.uscet.org ) , to support a graduate student forum at the 2018 American Studies Network conference
My write up for the University of Maryland proposal, also in this set of December 2017 recommendations, notes our Asia Program’s identification of certain fields for special attention, particularly with respect to encouraging their development in China. In addition to art history, the subject of the University of Maryland proposal, American studies is on the list. We view improved understanding of the United States in Asia as an appropriate counterpoint to our primary work toward improved understanding of Asia in the United States.
The US-China Education Trust (USCET) program of the F.Y. Chang Foundation has been an important channel for efforts in this regard. HLF has assisted several projects through a series of grants at both the responsive and discretionary levels, the most recent a special grant of $20,000 in July 2014. F.Y. Chang’s president, Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, now in her 70s, has devoted much of her career since leaving government to the enhancement of American studies in China. She commands respect and has developed strong relationships with a wide range of Chinese interlocutors.
One of USCET’s contributions has been to assist with formation of the American Studies Network (ASN), now a 54-member association of Chinese institutions with faculty doing teaching and research on the U.S. Since 2008, at USCET’s suggestion the ASN has included a Graduate Student Forum to encourage participation in its annual conference of a younger generation of scholars. Graduate student attendance has grown, particularly this past year, and USCET requests our support to keep the momentum going through several pilot strategies, most prominently a competition to incentivize student engagement. With our grant, the authors of ten top paper submissions would receive travel subsidies to the 15th anniversary ASN conference in Shanghai in November 2018, and the top two would be awarded spots on an ASN anniversary delegation to the American Studies Association conference later that month in Atlanta. USCET staff would organize pre-conference programming for the delegation in DC and in Atlanta.
Our grant would also support two studies, done in collaboration with USCET’s long-term partner the Beijing Foreign Studies University, to gather information about the state of the field in China—a needs assessment of Chinese graduate students in American studies and an update of a study conducted by our own Terry Lautz soon after he retired from HLF.
American studies in China, while much stronger and more networked than in the past, still benefits from a cheerleader such as USCET. Like the Energizer Bunny, Bloch has kept at it, and the considerable trust she has garnered allows USCET to be effective in spite of ups and downs in Sino-U.S. relations. Ironically, having an outside organization involved in ASN seems to provide some political cover for scholars of the U.S. who might not otherwise interact so frequently across their institutions. U.S. government efforts to promote education about America are met with greater suspicion.
A few notes relevant to the proposal:
Preparation of the proposal was accomplished under some haste, and while Bloch was in China, requiring long-distance coordination with her staff in DC. As a result, there is a discrepancy between the budget in the LOI and the amount requested in the full proposal. I have recommended the higher amount, which is $2,000 more than I had indicated in my earlier e-mail to you.
In reviewing the proposal, I had a number of questions. I asked for, and received, a supplementary response, which is available in the Notes and Attachments section of Foundation Connect, along with a more detailed budget spreadsheet.
Because the F.Y. Chang Foundation is a private foundation, we will exercise expenditure responsibility in administering a grant, if approved.
Thank you.
