Huping Ling, Professor of History, has been selected as Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor, by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The New Changjiang Scholar Program beginning in 2012 is funded and administered by the Chinese Ministry of Education. It is designed to select eminent scholars in the world to help internationalize China’s higher education and research. The program awards only 50 prominent scholars overseas annually, mostly in STEM and only a couple in social sciences, to teach and conduct research with leading Chinese scholars at selected institutions of higher education. Ling’s Chair Professorship is associated with Wuhan Theoretical Research Center of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council and the School of History and Cultural Studies at the China Central Normal University. During her tenure (October 2012-October 2015), Ling will work jointly with prominent Chinese scholars, conducting research on Chinese Overseas Studies, giving public lectures at conferences and universities, launching cutting-edge research projects, initiating new research institutions and programs, teaching courses in Asian American studies, and supervising doctoral dissertations.
Rutgers University Press has launched a new book series on Asian American studies—“Asian American Studies Today”—in the summer of 2012. The Press has invited Ling to design the series and serve as the inaugural series editor. Asian American studies is a dynamic and vibrant field of study that has, in the four-plus decades since its creation, established itself as a well-developed academic discipline. The Asian American Studies Today Series at Rutgers seeks to publish quality monographs and essay collections on cutting-edge themes and issues. In particular, it is interested in manuscripts focusing on sub-groups, areas, and topics that have not yet received enough scholarly attention: Southeast Asian Americans and other recent ethnic enclaves (such as the Japanese Shin Issei and Kashmiri Hindus), newer sub-groups of Asian Americans (such as professionals, undocumented immigrants, and Asian adoptees), communities in the Midwest and South, Asian American socioeconomic diversity, transnationalism, globalization, homeland polity, and other pertinent topics. Currently, only a handful of academic presses have book series on Asian American studies, such as Stanford University Press (Gordon Chang as series editor), the University of Illinois Press (Roger Daniels as series editor up to 2010), Temple University Press (co-editors), and Rutgers University Press (Huping Ling as series editor). Rutgers University Press has been actively publishing excellent titles in Asian American Studies, some have been award-winners. The new Rutgers Book Series will help enhance the Press’ reputation and attract strong manuscripts.
The Changjiang Scholar Chair Professorship is a great honor, not only to Professor Ling, but also to Truman. It would spread Truman’s name in China, help recruit best Chinese students for Truman (which is the fastest growing and the largest international student group at Truman now), and attract prominent Chinese scholars to teach at Truman under the Chinese government funding. The Rutgers book series editorship will also help boost Truman’s reputation and image as well.