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The College of Arts & Sciences
Our faculty members are a multi-disciplinary group in the humanities who conduct research and teach on topics arranged under our rubrics of "Literature & Linguistics," "Religion," and "Society & Culture," as well as offering instruction in 14 modern Asian languages, and the department also offers instruction in five classical Asian languages (Sanskrit, Pali, Literary Chinese, Literary Japanese and Literary Vietnamese).
The department works with Asian specialists of all disciplines across campus, who collectively comprise the East, South and Southeast Asia area studies programs.
The Department of Asian Studies was initially organized in 1946 as the Department of Far Eastern Studies (changed to Asian Studies in 1962). It developed from a wartime program in the language, history, and culture of China that trained people for government service. The three Cornell Asian area programs for South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia subsequently developed within the department before assuming their separate existences in the 1970s. Initially, the Department was located in Franklin Hall (renamed Tjaden Hall in 1980).
As more positions were assigned to the Department, and with the growth of graduate programs that provided universities around the world with prominent scholars of Asia, the problem of space became chronic. In the early 1970s the Department shifted to Rockefeller Hall where it now occupies the third floor.
Thess Savella, senior lecturer of Tagalog in the Department of Asian Studies, has been awarded this year’s Sophie Washburn French Instructorship for excellence in language pedagogy.
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Faculty from six colleges across Cornell tackle issues ranging from the health of endangered wild dogs to the spread of misinformation through social media.
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This summer, 101 students in the College of Arts and Sciences will take part in groundbreaking research on campus with 61 faculty as part of the Nexus Scholars Program.
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Zhiyuan Zhou is majoring in history, Asian studies, government & College Scholar.
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"A theme of the Harrison College Scholar Program is that our students are independent but not isolated."
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This summer, Cornellians will venture across continents as they pursue a wide variety of international projects funded by the Department of Asian Studies and the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. “We not only aim at giving our students scholarly knowledge and understanding of the re...
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Cornell’s Department of Asian Studies is delighted and honored to inaugurate the Tina Han Su Cooper ’66 Award. This undergraduate summer funding opportunity recognizes an outstanding Cornell undergraduate engaged in the study of Chinese cultural areas.
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Throughout her time in academia, Prof. Chiara Formichi, Asian Studies, has researched the relationship between Asian cultures and Islam, primarily focusing on Indonesia. Formichi began studying the topic as an undergraduate student, earning a B.A. in Islamic Studies from Sapienza University of Ro...
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