This article contains promotional content .(May 2024) |
Named after | Richard W. Weatherhead |
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Formation | 1949 |
Location |
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Director | Lien-Hang T. Nguyen |
Parent organization | Columbia University |
Website | weai |
The Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI) at Columbia University is a community of scholars affiliated with Columbia's schools, bringing together over 50 full-time faculty, a diverse group of visiting scholars and professionals, and students from the United States and abroad. Its mission is to train new generations of experts on East Asian topics in the humanities, social sciences, and the professions and to enhance understanding of East Asia in the wider community. [1] Since its establishment in 1949 as the East Asian Institute, the WEAI has been the center for modern and contemporary East Asia research, studies, and publication at Columbia, covering China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Mongolia (Inner Asia), Tibet, and, increasingly, the countries of Southeast Asia.
The Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI) and East Asian Studies at Columbia has been recognized by a wide variety of funding sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, which, since 1960, has designated Columbia as an East Asian National Resource Center.
Faculty and scholars at the institute are distinguished by their interdisciplinary and multinational focus. Resources available to the institute community include Columbia University's renowned C.V. Starr East Asian Library and the institute's extensive ties to the business, diplomatic, legal, and media communities in New York City, the nation, and abroad. The institute is also one of the leading centers for developing K-12 teacher resource and training programs in the United States.
In 2003, the institute was renamed the Weatherhead East Asian Institute to honor the generosity of the Weatherhead Foundation. The Weatherhead endowment supports a significant expansion of Institute programs, including the creation of postdoctoral fellowships, visiting professorships, a faculty research program, graduate training grants, student internships, a resident fellows program, and symposiums and workshops. The endowment will also support graduate fellowships for students pursuing advanced degrees in East Asian-related fields. [2]
The Weatherhead East Asian Institute administers the Master of Arts in Regional Studies—East Asia (MARSEA) program at Columbia. The MARSEA program, completed in two full-time semesters, is tailored to meet the needs of individuals entering professional careers, mid-career professionals, students preparing for entry into doctoral programs, and those pursuing a professional degree, such as the J.D. or M.B.A., who want to gain social science expertise in the modern politics, international relations, modern history, and cultural and social formations of the region with a country focus. [3]
The institute is also responsible for three major publication series. The first, Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, was inaugurated in 1962 to bring to public attention the results of significant new research on modern and contemporary East Asia. The books in this series are published by academic and trade presses and represent scholars of East Asia from around the world. The second series, Weatherhead Books on Asia, is published by Columbia University Press and comprises high-quality translations of works in Asian languages for scholars, students, and the interested general reader. The third series, Asia Perspectives: New Horizons in Asian History, Society and Culture, is also published by Columbia University Press and includes books on Asian subjects that cross the usual boundary between scholarly monographs and more encompassing general works for the classroom and the educated general reader. [4]
The Weatherhead Foundation, which has supported the East Asian Institute since 1980, was founded by A. J. Weatherhead, Jr. in 1953 and is currently headed by his son, A. J. Weatherhead, III. The Weatherhead Fund at Columbia is named in honor of another of the founder's sons, the late Richard W. Weatherhead, who earned an M.A. in history from Columbia, followed by a Ph.D. in 1966.
The family foundation concentrates on endowments for higher education. Since its establishment, it has supported Case Western Reserve University, [5] Columbia University, Harvard University, [6] the University of Texas at Houston, and Tulane University." [7]
Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history, Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, Oriental studies, religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages, political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies. Jewish studies as a distinct field is mainly present at colleges and universities in North America.
The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the international affairs and public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university located in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City. SIPA offers Master of International Affairs (MIA) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees in a range of fields, as well as the Executive MPA and PhD program in Sustainable Development.
The Harvard–Yenching Institute is an independent foundation dedicated to advancing higher education in Asia in the humanities and social sciences, with special attention to the study of Asian culture. It traditionally had close ties to Harvard University and the now-defunct Yenching University, and its offices are located on the Harvard campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but it is not part of Harvard.
The Institute for Citizens & Scholars is a nonpartisan, non-profit institution based in Princeton, New Jersey that says it aims to strengthen American democracy by "cultivating the talent, ideas, and networks that develop lifelong, effective citizens". It administers programs and fellowships that support civic education and engagement, leadership development, and organizational capacity in education and democracy.
The Asian Cultural Council (ACC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing international cultural exchange between Asia and the U.S. and between the countries of Asia through the arts. Founded by John D. Rockefeller III in 1963, ACC has invested over $100 million in grants to artists and arts professionals representing 16 fields and 26 countries through over 6,000 exchanges. ACC supports $1.4 million in grants annually for individuals and organizations.
The Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) is the research arm of the social sciences at Columbia University, formerly known as the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences. ISERP works to produce pioneering social science research and to shape public policy by integrating knowledge and methods across the social scientific disciplines. ISERP organizes an active intellectual community at Columbia University through its Faculty Fellows program, research centers, projects, and training initiatives.
Gerald L. Curtis is an American academic and political scientist interested in comparative politics, Japanese politics, and U.S.-Japan relations.
Susan J. Pharr is an academic in the field of political science, a Japanologist, and Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, director of Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University. Her current research focuses on the changing nature of relations between citizens and states in Asia, and on the forces that shape civil society over time.
Takatoshi Ito is a Japanese economist. He is a professor of the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and a senior professor of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA), formerly Center for International Affairs (CFIA) is a research center for international affairs and the largest international research center within Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. It is sometimes referred to as the Harvard Center for International Affairs.
Carol Gluck is an American academic and historian of Japan. She is the George Sansom Professor Emerita of History at Columbia University and served as the president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1996.
Columbia Global Centers are research outposts established by Columbia University in different locations around the world, as part of its initiative to further establish an international research university. The first of these centers opened in March 2009 in Beijing, China, and Amman, Jordan, and Columbia opened facilities in Paris, France, and Mumbai, India, in March 2010 and Istanbul, Turkey in November 2011. Locations in Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile were opened in 2012 and 2013. An additional location in Tunis opened in 2018.
Lambros Comitas was Gardner Cowles Professor of Anthropology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. A product of Columbia University, he received the A.B. from Columbia College in 1948 after service in the United States Army, and was awarded the Ph.D. in anthropology in 1962 from the Columbia Faculty of Political Science. Influential figures in his early professional years were Conrad Arensberg, Marvin Harris, Charles Wagley and Margaret Mead from the Columbia faculty and M. G. Smith, the eminent British-trained anthropologist whom he first met during field work in Jamaica.
Benjamin L. Liebman is the Robert L. Lieff Professor of Law and the director of the Hong Yen Chang Center for Chinese Legal Studies at Columbia Law School. He is widely regarded as one of the world's pre-eminent scholars of contemporary Chinese law.
The Center for Japanese Legal Studies (CJLS) at Columbia Law School is the first and only center of its kind in the United States.
Madeleine Zelin is Dean Lung Professor of Chinese Studies at Columbia University. At Columbia, Zelin is affiliated with the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, the Department of History, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, and the Columbia Law School.
Robert Barnett is a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, University of London and Affiliate Lecturer and Research Affiliate at the Lau China Institute, King's College, London. He is the former Director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program, where he was Adjunct Professor of Contemporary Tibetan Studies and Senior Research Scholar in modern Tibetan history at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. He retired from Columbia as of January 2018. He is also referred to as Robbie Barnett by the media.
Nicola Di Cosmo is the Luce Foundation Professor in East Asian Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study. His main field of research is the history of the relations between China and Inner Asia from prehistory to the modern period.
Leta Hong Fincher is an American journalist, feminist and writer. She is currently a research associate at Columbia University's Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
Thomas J. Christensen is an American political scientist. He is the James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.