Baylor Receives Fulbright-Hays Grant to Strengthen East Asian Languages, Asian Studies Program

Contact: Lori Fogleman, Baylor University Media & Public Relations, 254-709-5959
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WACO, Texas (Oct. 11, 2023) – Baylor University has received its first-ever Fulbright-Hays grant that will assist the University in strengthening its East Asian language programs (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) and Asian Studies program.

The Fulbright-Hays Program – a Fulbright Program funded by a Congressional appropriation to the U.S. Department of Education – awards grants to individual U.S. teachers, pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral faculty, as well as to U.S. institutions and organizations. Funding supports research and training efforts overseas, which focus on non-Western foreign languages and area studies.

The $294,000 Fulbright-Hays grant will allow Baylor to:

• Hire a Full-time Lecturer in Korean during the grant cycle. 
• Develop/Revive a Study Abroad Program in East Asia: Supporting a group of Baylor faculty for a field trip to East Asia and students with scholarships for summer study abroad opportunities in East Asia.
• Create Interdisciplinary Team-taught Courses in Asian Studies: For faculty development to develop innovative courses in Asian Studies.
• Develop Open Education Resources (OER) in Asian Languages and Asian Studies Courses: Helping a faculty member develop OER materials, organize workshops for faculty and reduce the cost of textbooks for students.

“This is very timely for us as the grant will help us strengthen our East Asian language programs as well as our Asian Studies program,” said principal investigator Xin Wang, Ed.D., associate professor of China Studies and division director of African and Asian Languages at Baylor. “The humanities don’t often get a lot of external grants, especially in substantial amounts. Therefore, it holds great importance to receive a Fulbright-Hays grant to support our students to acquire foreign language skills and gain a deeper understanding of different cultures and societies.”

Many of Baylor’s Fulbright-Hays grant-supported projects are well aligned with Baylor’s mission, as well as Provost’s and President’s initiatives, such as increasing interdisciplinary studies and programs, Wang said. The grant will support Baylor faculty members to develop new courses, which he describes as innovative team-taught, thematic-based courses related to Asia. For example, courses might focus on subjects such as urbanization in East Asia, East Asian cinema and literature, or East Asian humanistic traditions.

“We hope we can use this grant funding to bolster our course and curriculum development efforts and build an innovative approach to interdisciplinary education for our students,” Wang said.

Chinese, Japanese and Korean are among several languages taught in Baylor’s Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, which prepares students for the challenges and opportunities of global citizenship by fostering both linguistic proficiency and intercultural awareness. Foreign Language study at Baylor also includes Arabic, Swahili, French, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese.

In addition to foreign language studies, Baylor offers area studies programs in Asian Studies, Middle East Studies, Latin American Studies, and Slavic Studies. Asian Studies provides opportunities for study and research of diverse societies that inhabit the Asian continent, from the Ural Mountains to Southeast Asia. Interdisciplinary in approach, the program provides opportunities for overseas study and field experiences, laying a solid foundation for Baylor students to pursue careers in government service, business, and non-governmental organizations, as well as preparing them for advanced studies. Wang said that the grant will directly benefit students through scholarships for study abroad in East Asia.

“The Department of Education really liked the idea that we're building a regionally focused study abroad program in East Asia, including China, Japan and South Korea. In this program, students will study thematic issues concerning global health, technology, business, society and cultures in East Asia,” Wang said. “We aim to use the grant funding to help our students expand their horizon and enhance their knowledge and understanding of East Asia. Instead of following a traditional path, our students will engage in thematic, interdisciplinary courses that allow them to explore these subjects from multiple perspectives across disciplines.”

Bottom line, Wang said, context matters.

“We need to guide our students in comprehending cultures, peoples, and societies in East Asia, which play an important role not only in the world, but also, particularly, in the U.S. context of the U.S. economy and technology,” he said.

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