Report to Friends

January 26, 2009

Dear Friends of the HKAC:

Greetings and best wishes on this first day of the New Year of the Ox!  We thank you our friends in HK and the US for their generous support for the Hong Kong America Center to serve as a bridge, based in Hong Kong, between China and America in higher education.
As the Ox Year begins, I wish to share with you some highlights of the programs the HKAC organized with our member universities in HK in the second half of 2008.  I also want to convey to you what we see on the horizon for programs and activities in the spring and summer of 2009.  More information is on our website at: www.cuhk.edu.hk/hkac. 

Fall 2008

Fulbright Hong Kong Scholar Programs. Our sixth cohort of Fulbright research scholars have returned from America and the seventh cohort of eleven HK scholars are now there. The Fulbright Advisory Committee (FAC) selected two Hong Kong senior scholars to go to the US in 2009-2010 with generous support from the Research Grants Council (RGC). 
The FAC also selected nine young scholars to go to American universities for dissertation-related research in 2009-2010.  The Dow Chemical Company is our new donor with a gracious donation to support one of these young scholars.  In view of the difficulty facing many companies this year, the RGC has generously provided additional support to make the nine awards possible.  We are grateful for this additional support.                    

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 first cohort of five GE Fulbright scholars are here in HK, working with their host universities and delivering workshops in faculty development in HK and Macau.  Six American scholars in GE have been selected for next year’s cohort.  The HKAC has also hosted a series of system-wide public seminars on general education, featuring speakers such as Philip Altbach of Boston College (October 31) and Charles Sodini of MIT (January 12).  A book is planned with essays by visiting GE Fulbright scholars during the run-up to 2012.                        

Lecturers, Researchers and Students in Hong Kong. We are pleased also to have three Fulbright lecturers, two 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.  29 ETAs are in HK and Macau this year.  HKIED has 16, OUHK has four and nine are in Macau.  The HKAC organized a weekend retreat in late November at the Kadoorie Institute for the 45 Americans in HK and Macau this year under Fulbright.          

Chinese Fine Arts. The HKAC hosted 39 undergraduate students from St. Olaf College in Minnesota for a month-long program taught mainly by the Fine Arts Department of CUHK.  

Public Affairs Simulation on Campaigns and Elections.   The HKAC, the NDI and the HKBU Department of Government and International Studies organized a two-day conference in model-UN style for about 90 student representatives from HK universities in November 1-2.   The New York University program in Shanghai sent a delegation to HK to join in. 

News Commentary on U.S. Presidential Campaigns and Election.  I was asked on numerous occasions over the past year to speak on programs of RTHK and on ATV about the American campaign and election events.  These appearances in broadcast media helped, I believe, to give greater public profile to the HKAC and offered important learning moments about the American political system to the HK public.                                                

Spring and Summer 2009

The HK Institute of Education and the Cultural Institute of Macau (ICM) will host the eighth annual Fulbright China Research Forum (FCRF) from March 2-6.  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 a mid-winter conference. 

Fulbright Institute on American and Chinese Philosophy.  In May about 20 prominent teachers and their post-graduate students in philosophy in China will spend a week in the American Studies Resource Collection (ASRC) in the Wu Chung Library of United College at CUHK.  Dr. Roger Ames of the University of Hawaii and former Fulbright scholar will lead the institute on the dialogue between pragmatism and Confucianism.    The HKAC is also assisting the Shantou University in organizing a similar institute in American Studies in July for young mainland academics.      

Dow Chemical Hong Kong-America Awards.  We are grateful to Dow for contributing to two new awards.  One for a young American scholar to come to the HKUST for a year’s research, and one for a young HK scholar to go to the US under Fulbright for a year.  In a year of cutbacks in corporate support for such efforts, we admire this bold action to invest long term in HK US education exchange!               

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, the private university consortium of Minnesota, U of South Florida, Viterbo College, 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.                 

Media, Government and Society in America will be the theme for a two-week summer program in Washington DC for students in United College of the CUHK.   The recent presidential election campaign in the US was the setting last summer for a two-week study program for United College on the Political Culture of America, including visits to Washington DC and Harrisburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.                                     

HKAC Summer Internships 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.  The HKAC also assists other American programs to place students as interns in summer in HK.     

Liberal Arts Education in Asia.  The Fulbright GE program has generated wider interest in universities in China and other Asian countries for workshops on the core ideas of liberal arts education in Asian academic settings.  The HKAC plans two workshops in June, one at the CUHK and one at the UIC in Zhuhai, for university leaders in Asia on implementing general education.  Through the United Board, our GE Fulbright scholars in HK will consult with Asian universities on building GE programs.      

Interreligious Dialogue in Hong Kong.  The HKAC is working with academic departments and NGOs in HK to organize a series of scholarly meetings and public events here in association with the Parliament of World Religions, which is based in Chicago.  We also plan a conference on religion, business and economic prosperity in HK in fall 2010.    Our book on Religion and Public Life in China, emerging from a HKAC project with support by Luce Foundation, will be published by Oxford University Press.                                  

The US-China Experiential Learning Initiative (ELI) is a co-creation of the HKAC and the Association for International Practical Training (AIPT). Based just outside DC, AIPT and join 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.            

We are hopeful as we watch a new team of leaders occupy key positions in the American government, especially those whose portfolios relate to China and Asia, following the inauguration of President Obama.  This comes also with concern for the deep global economic downturn upon us, and the potential for changes in the Sino-American relationship, now 30 years since normalization, that may result from it.        

In this context, Hong Kong is an exciting place to create programs that help Chinese and Americans learn directly from one another. As a small organization, we can do these programs only with the active cooperation we receive from our fine colleagues in our member universities.

HKAC programs benefit enormously from the gracious help of government offices, business firms and NGOs in Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China and the United States.  Through our partnerships with universities in the mainland, we extend our horizons and see new potential for Sino-American academic exchanges over the bridge of Hong Kong. 

As we move optimistically into the future, we wish to take this moment at the beginning of the Year of the Ox to thank you all for your continuing moral and financial contributions that make the work of the Center possible.  We welcome your suggestions and appreciate enormously all the forms of your loyal and gracious support.
With best wishes for the Year of the Ox,    

Glenn Shive, Ph.D.