Greetings! Welcome to UMBC to our new students and Welcome back to our continuing majors and minors. I am pleased to be stepping back into the role of director of Asian Studies, on an interim basis, for this academic year. (For those of you who don't know me, I led the program from its inception in 2011 until 2017.)

Let me take this opportunity to thank Dr. Meredith Oyen for her excellent stewardship of the program during the previous six years. That stewardship included applying for a winning a large Mellon grant that is funding our Global Asias Initiative, the hiring of our Global Asias Initiative Post-doc, Dr. Mika Thornburg, and extensive involvement in the Asia Studies cluster hire.

Thanks to that cluster hire, this fall we are also welcoming FOUR (yes, 4) new tenure-track faculty whose research centers on Asia. They are:

Dr. Guan Wang, Political Science

Dr. Jinghong Zhang, History

Dr. Joonho Lee, Philosophy

Dr. Randolf Ford, Ancient Studies

Please be sure to welcome our five new faculty to UMBC and the Asian Studies Program when you meet them. 

You will have the opportunity to meet our wonderful new faculty, veteran professors, and fellow students at our Welcome Week Event on Tuesday, September 3, in the Fine Arts Performance Hall Lobby (1st floor), from 11-1. A flyer announcing this popular event will be forthcoming very soon. (There promises to be some delicious snacks being served...)

Please stop by to say hello to us in the program offices on the fifth floor of the Fine Arts Building (South Tower, closest to the University Center), 546 and 548, if you are in the neighborhood. Otherwise, our Program Management Specialist, Meredith Power, and I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, September 3 at our Welcome Week Event. 

Wishing you all a wonderful start to this academic year!

Dr. Constantine Vaporis, Interim Director