AAS 2019 Annual Conference Resolution of Thanks

Pictured, left-right: 2018-19 AAS Vice President Prasenjit Duara, Past-past President Laurel Kendall, President Anne Feldhaus, Executive Director Michael Paschal, and Past President Katherine Bowie. Photo credit: Emily Takacs of Christie’s Photographic Solutions.

The Board of Directors of the Association for Asian Studies wishes, by means of this resolution, to express thanks and appreciation to the many individuals and groups who have contributed significantly to the Association’s activities over the past year. Special recognition should go to the following:

Thanks first to the 2019 Program Committee: Chair Anne Hansen and Vice Chair Joan Judge; Timothy Cheek, Hilde De Weerdt, and Carlos Rojas (China and Inner Asia); Timothy S. George, Miriam Kingsberg Kadia, and Joshua Pilzer (Japan and Korea); and Maitrii Aung-Thwin and Ramya Sreenivasam (South and Southeast Asia) for assembling an outstanding program of over 390 panels which made the meeting in Denver, Colorado an engaging and productive four days.

Outgoing officers, the Board of Directors, and council and committee members are commended for their commitment to the profession and considerable time devoted to association affairs. The officers especially contribute enormously over the course of the year, and special thanks are accorded to President Anne Feldhaus, Past-President Katherine Bowie, and Vice President Prasenjit Duara, who, after the Denver conference, has moved into the 2019-20 Presidency. Special thanks also to retiring Past-past President Laurel Kendall for her many contributions over the last four years.

Much appreciation is due former AAS President Ted Bestor for continuing to serve as AAS delegate to the American Council of Learned Societies.

Many thanks also to council chairs Naomi Standen (CIAC), Albert Park (NEAC), Dina Siddiqi (SAC), Jane Ferguson (SEAC), and Brian Dowdle (COC), for their service on the Board and in discharging the leadership tasks of their respective councils. In addition, the efforts of all elected council members and appointed prize committee members are very deserving of recognition and gratitude.

The association owes considerable gratitude to the editors and staff of its various publications: Vinayak Chaturvedi and his staff at UC-Irvine, as well as the various article and book review editors, have done an outstanding job editing the Journal of Asian Studies. Ann Avouris and her colleagues at Cambridge University Press continue to produce and market both print and online versions of the JAS. Lucien Ellington continues to devote much time and effort in support of teaching issues as editor of Education About Asia and the “Key Issues in Asian Studies” booklet series. Bill Tsutsui has overseen the launch of our new “Asia Shorts” series, as well as continuing to serve as editor of the “Asia Past and Present” monograph series. Editor Anna Leon Shulman and associate editors Frank Shulman, Aruna Magier, John Hickey, and Daniel Kane continue to update and refine the Bibliography of Asian Studies. The BAS Advisory Committee chaired by David Magier and consisting of Martin Heijdra, Judith Henchy, and Adam Lisbon continues to provide critical oversight in maintaining and improving the functionality and utility of the bibliography.

The AAS Editorial Board, consisting of Bill Tsutsui (Chair), Jan Bardsley, Sue Darlington, Dong Wang, Natasha Heller, and Ramya Sreenivasan, are to be commended for their ongoing advisory work in the publications area of the association.

The association is grateful for the financial oversight and good advice provided by the Finance Committee, consisting of Chair Tom Rawski, Maggie Maurer-Fazio, Alicia Ogawa, Robert Oxnam, Siddharth Chandra, and Christian Murck.

Many thanks for ongoing IT support go to computer consultant Jeff Moskow of Ready-to-Run Software, and TAZ Networks for administering the secretariat’s network. Many thanks also to Ricky Hopkins of ConferenceDirect for helping with registration and coordination in Denver.

Thanks to Nicole Restrick Levit of SSRC and Justin McDaniel for organizing and conducting yet another very successful dissertation workshop in Denver. Special appreciation is also due faculty participants Haydon Cherry, Jennifer Gaynor, Prakash Kumar, and Oona Paredes for contributing their time and energy to the workshop

Thanks also to the curator of the AAS Film Expo, Jason Finkelman, Asian Educational Media Services (AEMS), for organizing and running an outstanding film program at the Denver Conference. An additional thank you to the Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies and Mike Shen for assisting on-site and the entire team of film (re)viewers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Tim Liao, Mara L. Thacker, Matthew S. Winters, Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz, and Angela S. Williams.

We are grateful to the organizing committee of our inaugural Digital Technologies Expo for facilitating this new conference offering. Many thanks to Chair Peter Bol, Gil Ben-Herut, Thomas Chandler, Mark Ravina, and Donald Sturgeon for their work in making the expo a valuable addition to the annual conference.

Special thanks to the Senior Advisor to the Board of Directors: Outreach and Strategic Initiatives, Krisna Uk, for her coordination of funding and special events throughout the year.

Outgoing Executive Director, Michael Paschal, incoming AAS Executive Director, Hilary Finchum-Sung, and fellow staff of the AAS Secretariat—Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, Lisa Hanselman, Doreen Ilozor, Robyn Jones, Teresa Spence, Alicia Williams, Jon Wilson, and Jenna Yoshikawa—deserve appreciation for their ongoing conscientious and dedicated work for the association.

As always, thanks to everyone for their service and volunteerism, without which the AAS could not function.