Asian studies is expanding and instead of one major, the program will now offer four majors for students to choose from: Asian studies, which will have a transregional focus, East Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies, and South Asian studies. The change, several program faculty said, was driven in large part by student request.
" 'Asian studies' covers a vast area—from the Middle East to Japan—and students wanted more specific titles for their majors to reflect the languages and cultures they had actually studied," said Jonathan Lipman, Felicia Gressitt Bock Professor of Asian Studies.
During the 2010-2011 academic year, Asian studies faculty members developed requirements for the new majors. Their goal was to build on the existing strengths of the program and to provide students with an even more rigorous and well-rounded approach to contemporary regional studies.
"Language study remains a core component of the major, but now our students are expected to incorporate the humanities and the social sciences more fully into their studies," said program chair and associate professor Ying Wang. Students will still be able to take Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic courses, with the addition of two new languages: Korean, which is offered this year, and a basic course in Sanskrit next year.
"We are supportive of the College's initiative of forging global connections and building experiential learning into the curriculum," Wang added, discussing theNexus: Curriculum to Career Program, which connects students' liberal arts education with their career goals. "An example is our new spring semester Nexus program in Shanghai—Economic Transformation and Business Challenges in China."
Within the Five Colleges, Mount Holyoke's Asian studies program is the first to offer majors in South Asian and Middle Eastern studies, David B. Truman Professor of Asian Studies Indira Peterson noted.
"The six faculty experts who teach courses in various disciplines on South Asia will help majors to design programs that meet their specific interests, and to prepare for the rising career opportunities for specialists in the region," she said.
Wang said students have noticed and responded to all of these program changes: There are already a handful of Middle Eastern studies majors, and the number of East Asian majors is growing rapidly.