[asiacouncil] Asia Council - ASDP 2020 highlights

Tue Sep 15 16:28:48 EDT 2020

Asia Council colleagues,

Before out virtual meeting Friday, I wanted to share with you some highlights from the 2020 ASDP national conference held in Atlanta.  Some items below correspond with attachments.

For those of you who attended, presented, or helped out any way, THANK YOU so much!  The Asia Council was truly key in making this event a success.  Fortunately, the timing of the conference was such that we were able to get it in just under the wire before things began shutting down related to the Pandemic.

  1.  Pre-conference Cultural Excursion (see attached flyer)

This went exceptionally well. With support from the Columbus State foundation, Eric Spears secured a greyhound tour bus, complete with a mic and speakers, so we were able to accommodate a full group with everyone having plenty of room, as well as provide information during the tour.  After the temple site visit and a quick stop at the South Asian Global Mall on Jimmy Carter Blvd., participants got to tour the renowned Buford Highway Asian District, and have lunch (and desserts afterward) at places of their choosing.

  1.  Friday Dinner Outings - Buford Highway Asian District (see attached flyer)

A number of conference attendees took advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with colleagues over dinner at one of the countless choices in the Buford Highway Asian District.  This could not have been possible without all the local and Asian Council folks volunteering to serve as dinner drivers for small groups.  After reviewing the many choices, each group decided where they wanted to eat.

  1.  Japan Exhibits

The plenary speaker on Friday was Brian Woodall, a Japan expert from Georgia Tech who some of you remember when he previously spoke at our Teaching Asia faculty development workshop on Japan.  As such, Friday was designated at a Japan focus day, with the following groups organizing exhibits:

  *   Consul General of Japan: exhibit on 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will not be the 2020ne Olympics
  *   Japan American Society of Georgia: exhibit on Japanese business in Georgia
  *   Japanese Travel Agency: exhibit on travel in Japan
Some space opened up in the atrium area, and I was able to organize a large scale cultural exhibit on Japan similar to the one at the Teaching Asia faculty development workshop on Japan a couple of years back.  This included over 80 cultural posters on Japan, as well as Japanese picture books (art, travel, etc.) and Japanese artifacts.

  1.  Georgia Scholars/Authors

We featured Georgia scholars on both days at a special display area in the atrium. Thanks to all of you who brought some of your books to display.

  1.  Chinese Paper Making Workshop

Matt Marone (Physics & Astronomy, Mercer Univ.) is a longtime ASDP participant and nationally recognized expert at integrating science and humanities, particularly those focusing on Ancient Chinese Scientific techniques.  While Matt has done presentations at ASDP conferences, this was the first time he was able to do a workshop simulating what he does in the lab with his students.  Needless to say, this event at the end of the program was not only well attended and an exciting way to bring the conference to a close, but also a needed catalyst for putting more focus on the sciences in the field of Asian Studies.

  1.  Georgia Presentations (see attached doc)

I don't think I'm going out on a limb here when I say that ASDP has probably never seen a better showing from a host state (or any state) at a national conference than this year with over 40% of the presenters coming from Georgia faculty, students, and independent scholars.

Kudos to the University of North Georgia, in particular, with nine, as most (maybe all) of those folks were not ASDP regulars.  The outreach efforts across the state really paid off!  I encourage you to look at the ASDP 2020 Georgia Presentations document, which is color coded for easy reference to all Georgia presentations below.  The quality is exceptional!

Total Presentations (81)
46 Presenters from outside Georgia (57%)
35 Presenters from Georgia (43%)

?  Georgia State University (10)

              *   1 Atlanta Campus faculty; 6 Perimeter faculty; 3 Perimeter students

?  University of North Georgia (9)

?  Other USG Institutions (13)

              *   Augusta (2)
              *   Columbus State (3)
              *   Dalton State (1)
              *   Georgia/UGA (1)
              *   Georgia Southern (3)
              *   Georgia Tech (1)
              *   Kennesaw State (1)
              *   Valdosta State (1)

?  Private Colleges & Independent Scholars (3)

              *   1 each: Mercer, Oglethorpe, Independent

  1.  ASDP 2021 Virtual Conference CFP (see attached doc)

The conference was originally planned for beautiful, sunny San Diego, but that been moved to 2022.  The CFP for 2021 is attached.

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