ASU’s Center for American Culture was awarded a grant of nearly $400,000 in January by the Ford Foundation that will allow it to host three conferences with Chinese universities over the span of three years.
Although a partnership between ASU and Sichuan University in Chengdu, China, has existed for approximately 10 years, ASU’s Center for American Culture first opened in 2010 when ASU received a grant that allowed them to fund the center. ASU and Sichuan University are part of the American Centers for Cultural Exchange network, which allows the directors of the Chinese and American centers to converge and share ideas about their respective cultures as well as potential research projects for collaboration.
The government founded 18 other centers based on their model after seeing their success, said Kathryn Mohrman, director of the ASU center and a professor in the School of Public Affairs.
The $385,161 grant was officially awarded in January. Mohrman said ASU’s center will plan and host the first of the three conferences that have been funded by the Ford Foundation, which will take place in June.
Since 2010, 28 ASU professors have traveled to Sichuan University, Mohrman said. The trips typically occur four to five times each year and the professors stay from one to two weeks. They give presentations to interested Sichuan faculty and students about various aspects of American culture.
ASU biochemistry graduate student Wei Wang is originally from Beijing.
“The program should also be reciprocated so (more) Chinese professors come here and share Chinese culture,” Wang said.
Although only two professors from Sichuan University have traveled to ASU so far, Mohrman said she hopes this will change in the future.
Two professors are coming from China in the next six months. It is more difficult for Chinese professors to travel to the United States for financial reasons. Their salaries are considerably less than American salaries, Mohrman said.
Although travel costs are expensive, Mohrman hopes that ASU professors and Sichuan University professors can collaborate in other ways.
“Let’s say two professors are interested in the same topic. And if they would teach the same subject, the American professor in the U.S. and the Chinese professor in China, and maybe read some of the same books and have the students do things via Skype, you could even have people doing projects,” Mohrman said.
ASU English professor Deborah Clarke has traveled to Sichuan University on behalf of the center twice, first in 2010 and again in 2011.
Clarke spoke on topics like 20th-century American fiction, American cars and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
“It was a wonderful opportunity. I really enjoyed it,” Clarke said. “If you have the opportunity (to travel to China), by all means, take it. Everyone was friendly, welcoming and interested in American culture.”
Contact the reporter at Ashley.McCulley@asu.edu
