Course History

 

 

The Asian Studies Program received grants from the Freeman Foundation and the Luce Foundation in 2002.  After a series of discussions among its faculty members, the Asian Studies program decided to use the grants to enrich and deepen classroom learning and teaching as well as faculty research. To accomplish these goals, the program designed a Study Trip Course, which combines academic content with experiential components of a study trip guided by one or two faculty experts on a given East Asian society.  Since 2002, a group of Asian Studies faculty members have taken a pilot trip to a given East Asian society to explore the content of a study trip itinerary and this faculty trip has been usually led by a faculty member who would be teaching a study trip course during the following Spring Semester.  (During the summer of 2002, the first faculty trip to China was led by professor Seungsook Moon.)  Incorporating feedback from colleagues, the faculty leader finalizes the specific itinerary of a study trip as an integral aspect of a study trip course s/he is designing according to his/her expertise and interests.  During the Spring Break in March of each academic year, the faculty member leads a group of students who are taking the course and faculty members outside the Asian Studies Program who are interested in expanding their areas of teaching and research into East Asian societies.  In the Summer of 2003, professor Seungsook Moon again organized the faculty trip to South Korea in preparation for the study trip course, entitled "Social Change in South Korea through Film" and in the spring of 2004, for the first time in Asian Studies Program, she taught the Study Trip course and led the trip of 20 students and faculty members.  Using this model, Japan will be the next destination for 2004-2005 and China will be the next for 2005-2006.  The grants from the two foundations can support these exciting endeavors for four years from 2002 to 2006.