News & Events

AAAS Student Research Symposium 2026 | Wednesday, May 6, 2026 | 12:00-2:30 pm | SAC Ballroom B

CIS presents a Symposium on Freedom and Creativity | Saturday April 18 - Sunday, April 19, 2026 | 9:00-5:00 pm | Humanities 1006.
Best 2026 MIC-URECA Presentation Award!  Abstract & Presentation due April 10, 2026.

CKS presents: Thursday, April 2, 2026  CKS Colloquium: talk by Dr. Peter Moody (3:30 PM@Wang Center LH 1)   
"Musical Populism: from the Korean Dvision to North Korean State Music"

MIC Distinguished Lecture: ChatGPT for Developing Interactional Competence! Affordances and Constraints by Hansun Zhang Waring (Teachers College, Columbia University) | Thursday, April 2, 2026 | 4:00-5:15 pm | Wang Center, Lecture Hall 1

Please join us on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 | 12:30 pm | Humanities Lobby for our Paper Airplane Tournament!

CKS presents: Sunday, March 15, 2026  Deadline to apply for Graduate Scholarship Applications 

Campus K-Connect:  A casual gathering for Korean faculty and students.  Wednesday, March 11, 2026 | 12:30-1:30 pm | Roth Cafe 122

CKS presents: Monday, March 2, 2026 -  CKS Colloquium: talk by Dr. Pedro Iacobelli Delpiano (3:30 PM, via Zoom) "The other legacy of the Korean War: Okinawa and the fear of World War Three"

POSTPONED: Details to follow- MIC Distinguished Lecture: ChatGPT for Developing Interactional Competence! Affordances and Constraints by Hansun Zhang Waring (Teachers College, Columbia University) | Thursday, February 26, 2026 | 4:00-5:15 pm | Wang Center, Lecture Hall 1.

CKS presents:  Wednesday, Feb. 18  2026 Study Abroad Info Session (12:30 PM@CKS)

AAAS celebrated the 2026 Lunar New Year on Monday, February 16, 2026.  We had a great time teaching students and members of the community all about the art of calligraphy!

CKS presents:  Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026 - Lunar New Year Celebration (4-6:30 PM@Fine Arts Loop)

CKS presents: Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026 -  Deadline to apply for PoongMul Instrument Workshops 

Effective Spring 2025, Jungmin Kang will be our AAAS Scholarship  Coordinator.

Congratulations to Prof. Yi Wang for receiving SBU's Presidential Mini-Grant ($2,550) for the Departmental Initiatives for her proposal entitled, "Unpacking the Myths of Study Abroad: A student-led critical reflection series"!

2024 Presidential Mini-Grant awarded to "Gateway to Diversity and Inclusion: Experience the Language of Other". The project is led by Jiwon Hwang, who collaborated with other AAAS faculty members Hannah Li, Atsuko Oyama and Eriko Sato . The mini-grant will fund a number of initiatives that will support the engagement students who have no experience with Asian language/culture by providing one-day Asian language open classes (“Tasting Language”) to expand their linguistic and cultural horizons and to cultivate a more inclusive and harmonious campus culture. And, to enrich language instructors’ teaching by integrating critical language pedagogy with a strong emphasis on DEI topics. This approach is to transform language classrooms into dynamic forums for critical discussion and reflection, thus empowering language learners with intercultural competence necessary to respond to today’s linguistic and cultural complexities. 

 

2023-2024

The Department of Asian and Asian American Studies is proud to announce the creation of the AAAS Study Abroad Scholarship in Asia, launching in 2024. This initiative has been made possible through the generous contributions of local supporters as well as faculty, staff, alumni, and even students during the annual SBU Giving Day. The first recipients of this scholarship are Noah Brandi and Kaya Rexford. Noah will be studying in Beijing, and Kaya in Shanghai, during the summer of 2024. Each student will receive a scholarship of $500 to assist with their expenses.

Noah is a Business Management major and a China Studies minor.
He is a dedicated learner passionate about languages. During his time at Stony Brook, he achieved conversational fluency in Mandarin and passed the HSK 5 exam. Post-graduation, Noah plans to teach English in China, sharing his enthusiasm for language learning while continuing to pursue his own language goals. He would like to express special appreciation to Professor Dongmei Zeng and Professor Agnes He for being great teachers and helping him succeed during his time at Stony Brook.

Kaya is a double major in Asian and Asian American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She is expected to graduate in May 2025. Kaya chose her respective majors from the rise of anti-asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. In her future career, Kaya hopes to utilize both of her majors to work at an Asian American advocacy organization. Kaya is very grateful for this award presented by the Asian and Asian American Studies department to support her study abroad journey. She would like to give a special shout out to Professors Dongmei Zeng and Gregory Ruf for giving their support throughout the entire process. 

Welcome,  Alessandro Pagano, Our newest visiting scholar! Alessandro will be working  Dr. Sato this spring 2024 semester. Learn more about his research interests  here.

Our IDEA Fellow,  Sandra So Hee Chi Kim, is the recipient of the  David L. Ferguson Award for Excellence in Inclusive Teaching.

 

2023 and earlier

18th Japan Center Essay Competition sponsored by Canon USA has been announced!
* E.K. Tan, AAAS Department Chair, Selected for  National Humanities Center Fellowship.  Congratulations Dr. Tan!

*  Our Japanese language adjunct, Hiroko Matsuzaki won the Harvard-Yenching Institute Cross-national Interdisciplinary Research Grant for her collaborative project with Kevin Chang from Academia Sinica (Taiwan) titled " The Local and the World: Comparative Studies of Taiwanese Academics and Writers Before, During and After World War II."

* Martin Kordas (Class of 2023) won the Special Award for the 17th Japan Center Essay Competition sponsored by Canon USA

*  Prof. Ruf talks about his experience when he was a student: "Sweet & Sour Work: The Pains and Gains of Studying China" for 2022 CAS Preview Day. (Description: Sociocultural anthropologist Greg Ruf discusses the challenges and rewards on offer for American students interested in pursuing the study of Chinese culture, language, and history. Join the conversation as this SUNY graduate from Upstate New York reflects on the personal growth and professional development opportunities leading to a meaningful and engaging career – either within or beyond one’s undergraduate academic major.)

*  Agnes He was elected to the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Executive Board.  She will be begin to serve as secretary to AAAL in March 2022.

* Testimonials from our graduates!

*  Learn Mandarin with our alumni Ashley Brown through  "Mandarin on that Beat"

 * Taiko Tides makes history bringing regional conference to Stony Book!

* Chris Saunders (Class of 2017) was selected to be an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher)  for the JET (Japan Exchange Teaching) program. 

* William Chittick has been named SUNY Distinguished Professor.