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Harpur
College Asian and Asian American Studies Awarded $1.75 Million Grant John Chaffee, professor of history and director of the Asian and Asian American Studies Program, spearheaded the grant application process. He explained that the program has four parts, each funded by both the grant and the Dean of Harpur College:
Chaffee was quite surprised the Freeman Foundation selected Binghamton for the grant. "But we were able to demonstrate that the University, especially the Dean of Harpur College, had made major investments in Asian and Asian American studies positions in the last year or two," he said, "We also tried to convey a sense of the excitement that in the last year and a half, we've brought together the Asian and Asian American sides of our program, intellectually as well as pedagogically." AAASP has come a long way since its first days as the East Asia
Program in 1984. In the early 90's, the History Department used
a vacancy in U.S. history to hire an Asian American historian. The
program was restructured as the Asian and Asian American Studies
Program, thereby including South and Southeast Asia as well as Asian
Americans. "But as I mentioned earlier, in the last year and a half
we have been working to integrate Asian and Asian American studies
around the common goal: namely the study of Asia and Asians globally,"
said Chaffee. "In this country, especially in New York State, you can’t do Asian studies without taking account of Asian Americans, especially since so many of them are our students. And you can’t do Asian American studies without reference to the cultural, social, and geographical origins of the Asian Americans. So students in the program can focus on one or the other but they have to do a core that includes courses on either side." "We’ve always dreamed of having a major in Asian and Asian American Studies, but we didn’t have the resources. It reflects a growing interest in Asia and recognizes the growing influence Asia has on the world at large. The Asian American side is perhaps more directly in response to the demographics, particularly demands by Asian heritage students, which my colleagues and I have long supported. A couple of years ago, we could have gone ahead with a major just in Asian Studies, but since we were developing this model of tying it in with Asian American Studies, we didn’t want to go ahead with one part and not the other. With this grant, we will have the resources on both sides to do just that." The son of missionaries, Chaffee was born in China in 1948,
just before the Communists came to power. At age 3, he moved to
Thailand and spent his childhood in Asia. He attributes his interest
in Asian studies to homesickness. "In college, I started studying
Chinese history and became hooked. The rest, as they say, is history." |
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Dr. Michael Little Honored by National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences brings together distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, who want to further science and technology for the good of humankind. They have several committees that act as liaisons with international organizations and the American public and scientific communities. In 1984, the National Academy of Science appointed Little to their International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), which he eventually chaired for his last 2 years. His entire career is peppered with service to professional organizations, such as the presidencies of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists from 1991 - 1993 and the Human Biology Association from 1996 – 1998, and his current role as chair of the U.S. National Committee / International Union of Anthropological Ethnological Sciences (USNC/IUAES). His main area of interest is physical anthropology, the biological side of anthropology. "I prefer to think of it as bio-behavioral anthropology. We study the relationships between humans and biological organisms and humans as behaving and social organisms." This unique interest did not keep him behind a desk writing papers. He traveled for several years to Kenya, studying East African nomadic pastoralists, a group of individuals who keep livestock. "In many parts of the world, people don’t bring the food to their livestock; they bring their livestock to the food," said Little, "These pastoralists, since they’re living in a relatively arid area, have to continually find vegetation for their livestock. So they’ll set up a settlement in one area, graze their livestock, and stay there for about a month. Then the whole settlement, between 20 and 40 people, will move to another area." Little’s work in Kenya culminated in 1999 with the publication of Turkana Herders of the Dry Savanna (Oxford University Press, 1999), though several Binghamton alumni are continuing his research. Kathleen Galvin, PhD `85, Ivy Pike, PhD `96, Sandra Gray M.A.`88, PhD `92, and Terry McCabe MA `76, PhD `84 are working in Africa in addition to university appointments throughout the country. "What I'm doing now is developed an interest in the history of the profession. I've been working with Kenneth Kennedy at Cornell University on a history of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists," said Little. He also continues to teach some of his old favorites, Human Growth and Development, Human Biological Variation, and a graduate seminar in biological variation. In spite of considerable time in tents, traveling among Kenyan nomads, Little has published over 100 scientific works and more than 60 book reviews in several scholarly publications such as American Anthropologist, Human Biology, and Science. Little is one of many bright lights in a department known worldwide for its expertise and depth of research. He remarked that his colleagues are doing diverse, groundbreaking work. For instance, Phillip Rightmire specializes in paleoanthropology, which is the study of preexisting populations and fossil hominids. He is currently writing a proposal to do research in the former soviet Georgia. Ralph Garruto studies living populations and the relationship between behavior and disease in different parts of the world. Virginia Vitzthum studies reproduction in high altitude populations, such as Bolivia and Peru. Dawnie Steadman is a forensic anthropologist and has helped with the identification of remains following the September 11th attacks at the World Trade Center. Little has enjoyed more than 30 years in Harpur College's anthropology
department. That he has earned such a noteworthy achievement
for his professional activities should be no surprise at all. |
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Professor
Herbert Bix Weighs in on Hirohito
The conscious decision by both American and Japanese policymakers to ignore Emperor Hirohito’s role in Japan’s aggression during World War II continues to have an effect today, Harpur College Professor Herbert P. Bix told the Harpur Forum, a BU speakers' bureau, on Tuesday, January 22, 2002. The issue of sovereign immunity for heads of state will continue to be an issue into the 21st century, Bix told the gathering of campus and community members in a presentation titled "The Impunity Question: From Hirohito to Milosevic."
Bix joined Harpur College's departments of History and Sociology in the Fall of 2001. He said American policymakers gave Hirohito "a virtual political pardon" in the pragmatic belief that he could be helpful in the effort. A consensus developed that placed the blame for Japan’s aggression on the military and minimized the emperor’s role. "I’m not saying that he was absolved, but his role was never adjudicated," Bix said. "He refused to abdicate or apologize. This decision to grant impunity to a head of state created more problems than it solved." In Japan, Bix said the decision promoted a history of deceit and distortion for the Japanese public about his role in the war and prevented a full normalization between Japan and its neighbors. In the world community, Hirohito’s ability to walk away from responsibility raises questions about the role of other leaders from Pinochet in Chile, who was able to do the same, to the decision to prosecute Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes in Bosnia. |
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Institute Focuses Faculty on Student Learning
In some classrooms an instructor might point to a map and observe, "Here’s Europe." In others, the instructor might give students a map and instruct, "Find Europe." The difference is what’s known as student-centered learning.
Last week more than 25 faculty and staff members from across the campus gathered for a two-day workshop sponsored by the Institute for Student-Centered Learning. The workshop was designed to help classroom instructors shift from transferring information to students to helping students find ways to discover and create knowledge on their own. Al Tricomi, professor of English and one of those who helped start the institute, explained the difference between student-centered teaching and traditional methods. In student-centered teaching: * The focus is on the student learning. Instructors should ask students what they understand and teach from a base of what students know. * The instructor is the facilitator of discussions and activities. * The student is a "doer" and learns by doing. * Student opinion should be gauged on how much he or she learned, not on what the instructor presented. Instructors should ask students to gauge their own learning, not whether they liked the instructor or the class. In the traditional method: * The instructor is the "knower." * The focus is on the instructor’s performance. * The emphasis is on the information conveyed. * Values are revealed by the instructor. * Instructors use the "banking method" by which information is simply transferred. * Student opinion is based on the instructor’s knowledge and opinions, not on how much they learned. "Student centered learning means paying attention to the process by which students learn," Tricomi said. He stressed that student-centered teaching should be incorporated into current courses, and should form the basis for creating new courses. He cited the Discovery Program’s linked courses as examples. Tom O’Brien, associate professor of education, told participants that many high school students are labeled as bright because they can regurgitate facts. "That’s not learning, that’s memorizing," he said. Student centered teaching and learning, explained O’Brien, is about getting the students to understand the facts and make them cognitively meaningful. His presentation was peppered with demonstrations, some of which were taken from his days as a chemistry teacher in the 1970s. In one demonstration, O’Brien blew up two balloons — one nearly full, and one less than half full. He then attached the two balloons with a plastic tube that he clamped and said instructors should ask the class, "What will happen when I take the clamp off?" Using such demonstrations in the classroom engages students and gives them tangible demonstrations of difficult concepts. To engage students, O’Brien advised, "Get them to laugh." Sue Crowley, associate professor of human development, identified changing demographic trends affecting college students, such as the rise in students where English is not their first language. Crowley asked participants to compare the demographics of their own college experiences to the changing trends, and then ask themselves whether their teaching styles and relationships with students have reflected the changes. Student-centered teaching requires a lot of time listening to the students, Crowley said, "Teaching should be more than delivering information." We want to create a community of learners among ourselves today," said Tricomi. He said more than 150 have attended the institute during its four
years. "I believe we’re going to make real changes here." |
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Scandal fills the night and one man rules the city. In Sweet Smell of Success, John Lithgow stars as J.J. Hunsecker, the most powerful gossip columnist in America, who creates celebrity or ruins lives with a stroke of his poison pen. With music by Marvin Hamlisch. Join our second annual Broadway Theater Party on April 18, 2002, with a pre-theater reception at Sardi's, followed by Sweet Smell of Success at the Martin Beck Theater! Tickets are limited so please reserve early. For more information, call 607-777-4278 or contact harprsvp@binghamton.edu. For more information about the musical, check out http://www.sweetsmellthemusical.com. |
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........................................ In response to your much-appreciated feedback, the Harpur Hotline will begin a regular feature of alumni news. Send us anything you want: publications, promotions, marriages, babies, graduations, retirements, or anything else you wish to share. We want to share the good news about our Harpur friends and family. Please send all information and photos (.jpg preferred) to Ingrid Husisian, hotline editor, at husisian@binghamton.edu or by mail to the Harpur College Dean's Office, LN 2430, Binghamton University, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, NY, 13902-6000. We look forward to hearing from you! |
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Announcing
a new way for you to buy Harpur merchandise.
Shop the campus bookstore from the comfort of your PC or Mac. Want
to pick up a copy of the new Harpur history book The Cornerstone?
Visit...
For hats, shirts and other apparel, see http://www.bkstore.com/binghamton/merch.html
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For other Campus News, visit: http://www.binghamton.edu/home/about/default.html Back Issues: January
18, 2002 |
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John Chaffee,
Professor of History and Director of the Asian and Asian American
Studies Program, has led Harpur College one giant step towards a
long awaited major in Asian and Asian American Studies. Thanks to
a $1.75 million grant from the Freeman Foundation, Harpur College's
Asian and Asian American Studies will grow from a Certificate program
to a full-fledged major. This is the largest humanities grant Harpur
College has ever received at one time.
Michael Little, distinguished
professor of anthropology, is surprised. The 
Bix,
who won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction for his book, Hirohito
and the Making of Modern Japan, contends that Hirohito was personally
and actively involved in Japan’s aggressive war policies during
World War II. After the war, with complicity of the Truman administration
and the Japanese ruling elites, Hirohito avoided prosecution or
investigation and continued to hold a position of honor. 
Check
out the Harpur mugs, the cool notecards and bumper stickers.
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This page was last updated on February 7, 2002 at 10:30a.m.