The grant, which is being awarded under the auspices of the Luce Fund for Asian Studies, represents a commitment by the foundation to cover the salary and benefits of the new professor for four years. An annual program fund of $10,000 for activities aimed at enhancing Asian studies on the Hamilton campus will bring the total value of the award to approximately $300,000.
At the conclusion of the four-year period, Hamilton will assume funding for the position.
"This award recognizes the considerable strength of the Asian studies program currently at Hamilton and the promise for an even greater understanding of the peoples and cultures of this part of the world" said College President Eugene M. Tobin. "Now, with the support of the Luce Foundation, the Asian Studies Program at Hamilton will be among the most rigorous and comprehensive of any such program in the country."Hamilton's Asian Studies Program is already strong in the teaching of Chinese language, the humanities and political science, particularly in its coverage of the majority Han people, Tobin said. However, to provide Hamilton's students with the breadth of courses necessary to comprehend the vast diversity of the Chinese people, both in China and abroad, the Luce Junior Professor of Asian Studies at Hamilton College will have expertise in Chinese ethnicity, with specialization in social mobility (migration, diaspora) or gender studies.
The new member of the Asian Studies Program will join several of the nation's most renowned scholars in this field, including Hong Gang Jin, the 1998 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Baccalaureate Professor of the Year and founding director of the highly regarded Associated Colleges in China Program, Cheng Li, a fellow with the Institute of Current World Affairs in Washington, Thomas Wilson, an historian who has published and spoken extensively on the Confucian tradition, and Steve Goldberg, an expert in the history of Chinese art.
