Field Notes
China program flourishes with 3 major grants
For more than a decade, Hong Gang Jin, the William R. Kenan Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures, has administered the Associated Colleges in China (ACC), an intensive year-long Chinese language program hosted by Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing. The ACC, long considered one of the best study-abroad programs in China, has enabled more than 1,000 students to become linguistically and culturally proficient in Mandarin Chinese. Even as the standard year-long ACC program continues to grow, Jin has created new opportunities for students who have completed a study-abroad program and for K-12 teachers of Chinese.
In 2007, she was awarded an $80,000 grant from the Department of Education's Fulbright-Hayes Group Projects Abroad program to pilot a post-study-abroad initiative. Building on the success of that pilot, she applied for two additional grants, one to the same Department of Education program and one to the Henry Luce Foundation. She has been awarded both — a four-year, $944,700 grant from the Fulbright-Hayes program and a three-year $300,000 grant from the Luce Foundation.
Jin's primary concern with the new post-study-abroad initiative is to make it possible for students to retain and expand upon what they learned during their initial study-abroad experiences.
"While most study-abroad programs do an excellent job training students to become fluent Mandarin Chinese language speakers, we are finding that students suffer a serious language loss and are having a difficult time maintaining and improving their Chinese language skills upon returning to the U.S.," she said. "Students have limited opportunities to speak Chinese at home, and without regular use, their language skills deteriorate." The first cohort of field studies students completed the post-study-abroad program last summer. The students reported that the program was excellent and eye-opening. Moreover, an expert in language acquisition hired to evaluate the program found that all students achieved significant advances in language development.
HANSA nonprofit program to begin
Hamilton students interested in pursuing a career in nonprofit management will have a chance to hone their skills, thanks to a new program being launched this fall. The Hamilton Alliance for Nonprofit Strategic Advancement (HANSA) will partner with nonprofit agencies in the Mohawk Valley on specific projects and staff the agencies with student fellows interested in pursuing nonprofit leadership roles.
Five students have been selected as program fellows for the 2008-09 academic year. Sofía Guerrón '10, Phillip Hoying '09, Julia Pollan '10, Emily Smith '09 and Andrew Pape '10 will work with such agencies as the Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties, YWCA of the Mohawk Valley and Kids Educational Youth Services. HANSA will be operated through Hamilton's Foundation, Corporate and Government Relations Office, staffed by William Billiter and Amy Lindner, who will provide training and mentoring.
Through the HANSA fellows program, students will receive hands-on training that will enable them to complete semester-long projects on behalf of agencies. "These students will have a substantive effect on the agencies at the administrative level," Billiter said. They will work in such areas as finance and fundraising and program evaluation and will report directly to their organization's CEO. "They will obtain training and step into administrative-level roles," he said. "That, in turn, will enable them to pursue a graduate-level education in nonprofit management."
Other recent grants
- Heather Buchman, assistant professor of music and director of the Hamilton College Orchestra, has been awarded a Women Conductors Grant from the League of American Orchestras. This new grant program supports the artistic growth and professional development of women conductors of exceptional talent. Buchman will use the funds to continue her studies this summer at the International Academy of Advanced Conducting After Ilya Musin in St. Petersburg, Russia.
- Gordon Jones and Brian Collet, associate professors of physics, were awarded a three-year, $89,988 grant from the National Science Foundation for their project "RUI: The aCORN Experiment to Measure the Beta-Neutrino Asymmetry in Neutron Decay."
- Anne Lacsamana, assistant professor of women's studies, won a postdoctoral fellowship of $30,000 from the American Association of University Women. The fellowship will help her complete a book project, Revolutionizing Feminism: The Philippine Women's Movement in the Age of Terror.
- Naomi Guttman, associate professor of English, received a $20,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts for her collection of poetry, Resurrections of the Body.
