Report to Friends

February 18, 2010

Dear Friends of the HKAC:

Greetings and best wishes for the Year of the Tiger!   We thank you for your loyal support for the Hong Kong America Center to serve as a bridge, based in Hong Kong, between China and America in higher education.

I wish to share with our Friends some highlights of the programs the HKAC organized with our member universities in HK last year, and share what we see on the horizon for programs and activities in the spring and summer of 2010.  More information is at: www.cuhk.edu.hk/hkac. 

Highlights of Fall 2009

RGC-Fulbright Hong Kong Scholar Programs. Our seventh cohort of Fulbright research scholars have returned from America and the eighth cohort of eleven HK scholars are there now.  Our Fulbright Advisory Committee (FAC) has just selected two senior scholars and nine doctorial dissertation candidates from HK universities to go to the US next year with generous support from the Research Grants Council (RGC).  The Dow Chemical Company will also support an outbound and an inbound scholar for research in this program.                     

Fulbright Hong Kong General Education Project.  Mr. Po Chung is our lead donor in establishing this four-year project to bring leading academics in general education from America to Hong Kong.  The second cohort of six GE Fulbright scholars are here in HK, working with their host universities and delivering workshops in faculty development in HK and Macau.  We co-organized a conference on liberal arts education in China at the United International College (UIC) in Zhuhai in November.  We also seek to assist HK universities in recruiting teaching fellows from the US to assist in teaching GE courses for first year students in the years ahead.    

Another six American scholars in GE have been selected for next year’s cohort.  We are working with the United Board to offer consultation services to universities around Asia on developing their general education programs and courses.  Dr. Jerome Wartgow from Denver will be in HK on  Fulbright/GE project in March/April.                             

Lecturers, Researchers and Students in Hong Kong. We are pleased also to have seven Fulbright lecturers, three researchers and three post- graduate students from the U.S. in Hong Kong and Macau this year.   Our annual Fulbright newsletter and the HKAC website give further details on the grantees, their research and their host institutions.      

Fulbright English Teaching Assistants.  23 ETAs are in HK and Macau this year.  HKIED has 16, UMAC has four and MPI has three.  The HKAC organized a weekend retreat in late September at the Kadoorie Institute for the 45 Americans in HK and Macau this year under Fulbright, as well as a three-day program of lectures at universities in Guangzhou in mid December in collaboration with the US Consulate there.     

Fulbright American Studies Research Institutes in China (FASRIC).  The HKAC organized a one-week research seminar for post-graduates students from all over China on the theme of American from 1945-1975.  Shantou University’s Center for International Studies, led by Paul Levine, was our host in late September.   This was our third annual FASRIC program supported by Fulbright/China.   We hope next year to return to Shantou for a seminar on America from 1975-2010.          

Chinese Fine Arts. The HKAC hosted 25 undergraduate students from St. Olaf College in Minnesota for a month-long program taught mainly by the Fine Arts Department of CUHK.  

Copenhagen - Hong Kong Climate Change Simulation.   The HKAC, the NDI and HKBU’s Department of Government and International Studies organized a model-UN style project for student teams from all HK universities to simulate the negotiations in Copenhagen on climate change.  We met on October 24 for an all-day briefing, on November 14 for the actual simulation, and on December 19 for a live webinar from Copenhagen Business School on the outcomes for the actual negotiations.   All events were held at the HKBU.   Over 100 HK students attended; teams from the US and China also participated online.                   

 Spring and Summer 2010

The CUHK will host the ninth annual Fulbright China Research Forum (FCRF) from March 8-12.  Sponsored by the US Embassy in Beijing, the Fulbright Commission in Taiwan and the American Consulate here in HK, this Forum will bring over 80 American Fulbright researchers in mainland China and Taiwan to Hong Kong for an early spring conference on new themes in research about China. 

Student Conference on US-China Relations.  With the support of the China-US Exchange Foundation, the HKAC organized a conference at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center last May for Chinese and American post-graduate students, including Fulbright students and scholars, from the East China region.  The CUSEF has supported us to organize a second conference in May 21-23, 2010.   

Urban River Restoration in China: Case of Foshan.  The HKAC is assisting the University of Southern California and the Pacific Rim Council of Urban Development (PRCUD) to organize a series of meetings for scholars and lab studies for US post-graduate students in Foshan, Guangdong to study the planning and environmental issues for the urban districts along the Fenjiang River.                  

American University Programs Studying HK.  Each year the HKAC assists American universities to bring student delegations to study aspects of HK and the PRD region of south China.  This year we are working with the East-West Center, the U of Southern California (USC), New York U, U of Maryland, Minnesota Private College Consortium, George Mason U, and the City U of NY, among others.  HKAC designs programs for them that focus on themes such as the HK business and economic system; HK’s relations with China; traditional Chinese medicine; culture and society in HK; NGOs and civil society in HK; environment and climate change; higher education development in HK and China; and China’s fine arts.  We bring these groups to the campuses of all our member universities for lectures, briefings and meetings with students.   

South China - North America Migration: New Studies in Chinese Transnationalism is a conference to be held in June 9-12 at the HKU in American Studies.  This will be the third in a series of such conferences in American Studies at HKU led by the visiting Fulbright scholar.  Dr. To Wing-kai from Bridgewater MA will lead this program, to also include visits to Macau and Jiangmen in the west delta region of Guangdong.            

Summer Study Tours for HK Students in the US.   The HKAC will organize three study tours in the east coast of the US in summer 2010.  The United College of CUHK will support a third annual study tour to Washington DC, with this year’s theme on the Environment and Energy Policy in America.  We will also organize a program on Philadelphia, New York and Boston, colonial and modern cities, for the American Studies program at HKU, and a study program for the University of Macau on Civil Society and NGOs in America, that will go from Washington DC to Philadelphia to New York City.                                       

Summer Internships for US Students in Hong Kong.  The HKAC will sponsor students from Yale, New School (NYC) and other universities for eight weeks of practical learning in business, media, government agencies and social service organizations in HK.              

Teaching Western Civilization Through Art in Chinese Universities. The Luce Foundation and the Fulbright program are supporting the HKAC to work with the HKU’s Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities to offer an intensive workshop from July 12 to 31 for 14 young professors of art history from major Chinese universities.                                   

The US-China Experiential Learning Initiative (ELI) is a co-creation of the HKAC and the Association for International Practical Training (AIPT). Based in the DC area, AIPT has joined with the HKAC to expand programs in greater China for exchange of students and young professionals, including internships in the US, in fields of science, engineering, law and education.            

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Hong Kong is an important and exciting place to create programs that engage Chinese and American scholars and students to learn directly from one another. As a small organization, we can do these diverse and high- quality programs only with the active cooperation of our fine colleagues in our member universities in HK.

HKAC programs benefit enormously from the gracious help of business firms, government offices, and NGOs in HK, Macau, mainland China and the United States.  We are grateful for the continuing and invaluable services provided to the Center by our host university, the CUHK.   

Through our partnerships with universities in Macau, Guangzhou and elsewhere on the mainland, we extend our horizons and see new potential for Sino-American academic exchanges over the bridge of Hong Kong. 

Please see attached a list of HKAC projects for 2009-2010.  I recently wrote an article on HK as a Higher Education Hub at: www.hkjounral.org. 

As we move optimistically into the future, we wish to take this moment at the beginning of the Lunar New Year, and indeed a new decade, to thank our many Friends for your continuing moral and financial contributions that make the work of the Center possible.

With best wishes for the roaring year of the Tiger 2010.  

Glenn Shive, Ph.D.