Asian Studies Department

Congratulations to Wendell “Hotfoot” Garnett ’05, who recently completed the first portion of the 17-year Geshe degree program of Tibetan Buddhist studies at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala, India!  This program offers an intensive grounding in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy through the traditional method of debating key Buddhist texts.  On hand to help mark this achievement by Wendell and others was His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who has resided in Dharmashala since fleeing Tibet in 1959.  Having completed this initial 8-year portion of his studies, Wendell will continue to study for another 9 years in order to complete the program.  Once he has finished his studies, he will receive the title Geshe (Tibetan, “one who knows virtue”), the equivalent of a doctoral degree in Tibetan Buddhist academic traditions.

Continue reading Wendell “Hotfoot” Garnett ’05 Reaches Milestone in Tibetan Buddhist Studies →

Three faculty members in the Asian Studies Department are publishing books this fall:

• Jianfen Wang has edited Performed Culture in Action to Teach Chinese as a Foreign Language: Integrating PCA into Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment (Routledge, 2022) with Professor Junqing (Jessie) Jia of Hamilton College. This book explores best practices in implementing the Performed Culture Approach (PCA) in teaching Chinese as a foreign language (CFL).

• Jeff Richey has expanded his 2013 book, Confucius in East Asia: Confucianism’s History in China, Korea, Japan, and Viet Nam, which now is available in a second, revised edition from Columbia University Press as part of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS)’ Key Issues in Asian Studies series. The new version incorporates analysis of Confucianism’s impact on how East Asian societies have responded to recent events such as the global coronavirus epidemic, the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and recent legal developments and social media trends.

• Lauren McKee also is publishing a volume in the AAS’ Key Issues in Asian Studies series, Japanese Government and Politics (Columbia University Press, 2022). Her book takes a comparative approach to Japanese politics, covering topics such as political parties and elections, civil society, bureaucracy, and foreign relations, and shows that strengthening democratic institutions is an ongoing struggle throughout much of the world, including Japan.

Congratulations to these faculty authors!

Fatima King ’14, Nicole Manging ’19, and Michelle Mecham ’22

Every year, a handful of Berea seniors and graduates apply for the highly competitive Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Since 1987, more than 70,000 college and university graduates from all around the world have taught their native languages in Japan through the JET Program, which is administered by the Japanese government in cooperation with 38 other national governments. For most of that time, only one applicant from Berea has been successful each year.  In 2019, however, six Berea graduates were accepted by the program, setting a new record, which was nearly matched by Berea’s success in 2020, when all four finalists from Berea were accepted.

Continue reading Three Berean Finalists Accepted by JET Program →

Congratulations to our December 2021 graduates:

Ericah Martinez ’21 (minor in Asian Studies, major in Education Studies) has applied for the JET Program and hopes to teach English in Japan or elsewhere in East Asia after graduation before eventually seeking a master’s degree in the education field.

Kirstan McClendon ’21 (minor in Asian Studies, major in Spanish) plans to take post-graduate year off to improve both her Japanese and Spanish language skills while tutoring online to explore teaching as a career path.

Kurtis Shannon ’21 (major in Asian Studies) intends to remain in Kentucky and seek employment in a public library, with the goal of enrolling in a graduate program in library science or archivist studies in the near future.

Destiny Walker ’21 (major in Asian Studies) hopes to pursue a career as a librarian after spending the next year honing and developing her skills.

The Department of Asian Studies congratulates these graduates and wishes them all the best in the Year of the Water Tiger and beyond!

Brittany Welch ’15

Congratulations to Brittany Wick (Welch) ’15, who recently was accepted to study esport management at Eastern Tennessee State University!  One of very few such programs in the United States, ETSU’s program will enable Brittany to pursue her dream of building community through the shared love of video gaming.

Darlene Lytle ’12

Congratulations to Darlene Smith Lytle ’12, who recently was accepted to study library and information science at the University of Washington!  Ranked as the #2 such program in the United States, the University of Washington’s program emphasizes diversity, inclusion, and social justice – all values that should be familiar to any Berea College student or graduate.  As an undergraduate at Berea, Darlene studied Chinese language and spent time in China studying abroad.  After graduation, she taught English teacher in the city of Yuncheng in China’s Shanxi Province.  Her post-China relocation to the Pacific Northwest enabled her to bring her experiences in both Berea and China to work in public libraries as well as a Montessori school in the Seattle area, where she began to see how her academic background and passion for helping others might be channeled into librarianship.  “I couldn’t have done it without [the Asian Studies Department’s] help in developing my writing, critical thinking, and professional skills,” says Darlene. “It feels good to finally know how I want to best use my strengths.”