Center offers East Asian resources

Despite limited office space and a two-person staff, the brand-new Center for East Asian Studies offers a large collection of resources for those interested in East Asian culture. Located on the sixth floor of Williams Hall, the center will make studying the region much more efficient, according to Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Professor and first Center Director Cameron Hurst. The center, which has been open since September, serves three purposes, Hurst said. The main goal is to bring different academic perspectives of East Asia together to provide the University enhanced resources on that region. This is the first time in Penn's history that an East Asian Center has been established, Hurst added. "The East Asian Studies Department has been at Penn for a long time," he said. "What we didn't have is a center that coordinates faculty and teaching across disciplines." Increasing the exposure of East Asian studies to the public is the center's second function. According to coordinator Paula Roberts, this will be accomplished through a series of brown bag lunches, colloquiums, film festivals and speakers. Roberts added that attracting well-known personalities in the field of East Asian studies to speak on campus will not be a problem for Hurst, who comes to Penn after 26 years at the University of Kansas, where he was also director of its East Asian center. Since Hurst desires to expand the number of course offerings and the number of faculty members within the East Asian Studies Department, fund raising is the center's third purpose. "There are a lot of funds for individual research," he said. "What we need are grants to hire new faculty and expand programs." Unlike many other departments on campus -- which have limited funding -- East Asian Studies has tremendous resources and is financially stable. "We are very fortunate," Hurst said. "Virtually all countries in East Asia are fairly wealthy." He explained that many of these countries have foundations that reward grants to foreign institutions interested in promoting East Asian culture. Hurst and Roberts said their biggest challenge in starting the center was the organization process and informing people of its existence. But now, professors across the University are praising the center's efforts. "The East Asian Center is the most exciting initiative in East Asian Studies at Penn since I have been here," Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Professor Nancy Steinhardt. Japanese Studies Professor Linda Chance said she agreed. "It's a great resource to improve everyone's knowledge of East Asia," she said. Wharton School of Business Associate Dean Jeffrey Sheehan, who cooperated with Hurst in bringing faculty members to Korea, described the center as "not only being important to Wharton, but for many parts of the University." "Hurst sees the center as one big tent where everyone can fit under," he added. Graduate students said they find the center to be beneficial as well. "Since the center has started, the number of colloquia related to East Asia at Penn has increased tremendously," said Graduate Student Association Council President Brian Ray, a second-year Japanese Studies student. "Information about opportunities in East Asia for both undergraduates and graduates have been widely distributed."