Establishment of a charitable foundation Chair in Chinese Cultural Studies
A generous gift of $1.5 million from the Drs. Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation will result in the creation of an endowed Chair in Chinese Cultural Studies at ±«ÓãÖ±²¥. The Chair will be in the Department of East Asian Studies in the Faculty of Arts. The Foundation, based in Hong Kong, has a close relationship with ±«ÓãÖ±²¥. Vivienne Poy, BA Â’62, who is a member of ±«ÓãÖ±²¥Â’s Board of Governors and who has established entrance scholarships for students in Arts, is the daughter of Dr. Richard Charles and Dr. Esther Yewpick Lee. The Chair will be named in their memories.
"±«ÓãÖ±²¥Â’s ties to East Asia and China especially are rich and complex," says Principal Bernard Shapiro. "We have all heard about Dr. Norman Bethune, the ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ medical doctor who became an icon of ChinaÂ’s revolution, but many are perhaps not as aware of the myriad linkages since his time, from training of undergraduate and graduate students to research collaborations in areas from Science to Engineering, to Management, Agriculture, Religious Studies and Arts. The establishment of the Lee Chair will provide ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ with a remarkable opportunity to build on this tradition and to transform our understanding of what the impact of East AsiaÂ’s experience will mean for us as individuals and as citizens in a global society."
±«ÓãÖ±²¥Â’s Department of East Asian Studies is currently comprised of a core of nine faculty members. There are another nine professors, from various disciplines such as History, Management, Anthropology, Sociology, Religious Studies, and Political Science, who are associate faculty with the department and many others who have academic interests in East Asia. The University offers more than 100 courses in the East Asian interdisciplinary program. Department Chair, Dr. Robin Yates, is excited about the announcement: "We are gratified by the confidence in our program that this donation expresses and the vision for the future that it implies. By creating this new position, the Drs. Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation is helping to ensure that ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ students will continue to have access to the most current, informed expertise on Chinese culture."
