Council of Conferences Outreach Grants

AAS Council of Conferences (COC) Outreach Grants of up to $2,000 are made available to encourage education in Asian Studies.

Previously successful projects have included the organization of workshops and panels in conjunction with AAS Regional Conferences, the preparation of teaching materials, the compilation of source books, etc. All worthy proposals are welcome, with the stipulation that they must be connected with and of benefit to the regional conference’s outreach endeavors. To ensure this, each proposal must be approved by the regional conference’s appointed outreach coordinator, regional conference chair, or regional president. Their signature must be included on the cover sheet of the proposal. The COC encourages organizers of outreach activities to use, as appropriate, the resources available in the AAS teaching journal, Education About Asia. Information on gift subscriptions is available here. The use of grant money for registration waivers as a means of attracting annual conference attendance is not a high priority. Receipt of grant money does not preclude regional conferences from using other resources for this purpose.

All 2023 applications must be submitted electronically to Kevin Fogg kfogg@email.unc.edu AND the AAS Grant Programs Manager at grants@asianstudies.org.

Successful applicants are required to submit a final report to the COC and AAS.

Proposals will be accepted starting March 1, 2023 on a rolling basis, pending funding availability. Applicants will be notified within a few weeks of submission if their application for funding is approved. Please email grants@asianstudies.org before filling out an application to ensure funds are still available.

Funds are still available for 2023 CoC grants

Note

AAS grants take the form of reimbursement rather than payment in advance, and only after workshop completion and COC grant report and reimbursement form/receipt submission. Reimbursement requests need to be sent to grants@asianstudies.org. For any questions regarding the reimbursement and reporting process, please contact the AAS Grants Manager, Molly DeDona at grants@asianstudies.org.

For questions or further information, please contact Kevin Fogg kfogg@email.unc.edu

Application Guidelines
  1. Statement of Purpose
    • State succinctly, in a paragraph or two, the purpose and goals of the event or product. Follow the simple journalistic dictum here to relate what will happen, when and where will it occur; who will attend the event or receive the product (estimate numbers), and who will present or prepare the materials. Be sure to explain how the event or product promotes understanding of Asia.
    • Indicate how you will assess the success of the event or the value of the publication/product. Incorporating an instrument for feedback and evaluation into the event itself is often a good idea, and the proposal could well include an appendix of this evaluation instrument.
  2. Rationale and elaboration
    • Why is there a need for this event or publication? Why is the event or product organized as it is? Is there a precedent or model for this that has worked well before? Are the leaders or designers of this event or publication suited to the task? Your proposal may not necessarily need to address each of these questions, but instead may require explaining different dimensions than the ones listed here. The point of this section, whatever points you address, is to justify the worth and value of the event or product for enhancing the study of Asia at any level.
    • This is the place, too, to explain in greater detail any elements that were not included in the statement of purpose for the sake of brevity. For example, on what basis can you estimate the numbers who will attend this event? If the proposed event is a workshop or an event linked to one of the regional conferences, prepare a detailed schedule of how the time will be used. If participants will be provided materials at the event or ahead of time, indicate the nature of these materials and how they will be used in the event. The COC encourages you to consider making use of the teaching resources available from the Association for Asian Studies, including the journal Education About Asia. Information on gift subscriptions is available here. If the project involves a publication or the construction of a web site (which, of course, extends the reach of any materials you prepare), provide an outline of the contents. If your event is built around the contribution of one or two major speakers or experts, you may want to include a vita or some brief biographical information about them. Letters expressing cooperation and support from relevant groups or cooperating institutions (e.g., a museum, a school district, an arts council) may also be included if you wish.
  3. Budget
    • Estimate how much money will be used for what purposes and provide an itemized list and total of expenses. Materials, duplication and mailing charges, performers or lecturers’ stipends, room and equipment rentals, and word-processing are the kinds of expenses usually covered in these proposals. Funds will not be awarded for meals, even if experiencing a particular cuisine is one of the educational goals of the event. Participants might well be asked to bear the cost of their own meals in these cases. Funds are not awarded to cover substitute teacher stipends when the event requires attendance during the school day.
    • Matching funds, if any—from a university outreach program, from a school district or state budget, or from another granting source—should be listed in the budget as well. The COC encourages leveraging COC monies with other sources whenever possible.
    • Please note: AAS COC Outreach Grants take the form of reimbursement, rather than payment in advance. Reimbursement is for actual expenses incurred, up to the amount of your grant award and will only be made after completion of the event and based upon submission of the required narrative and financial reports.
  4. Evaluation, follow up, and feedback.
    • Recipients must write a brief narrative and financial report of a funded event within one month of its occurrence. Narrative reports should contain an assessment of the success of the event or the value of the publication/product.  Reports on a publication or website funded by a grant should be returned no later than three months after publication.  
    • Grant narrative and financial reports should be digitally submitted via email attachment to the AAS Manager of Grant Programs, Molly Dedona (mdedona@asianstudies.org) and to the current Chair of the COC (see here for details), who will share the report with relevant personnel in the regional organization. Grantees pay all expenses directly. A COC Outreach Grant Expense Reimbursement Form should then be completed and mailed to the AAS Secretariat office in Ann Arbor, MI along with all eligible grantee-paid expense receipts copies for which you are seeking outreach grant reimbursement.
    • Conferences that fail to submit the required reports will not be eligible for a COC Outreach Grant the following year.

APPLICATION FORM:

Previous COC Grant Recipients

2022 Grants
  • Yuxin Ma, University of Louisville, for the “Asian People and Horses” Teacher’s Outreach at the 61st Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies on January 14 -16th, 2022. The outreach program constititued a special track for K-12 teachers to attend the conference, including 2 panels on instructions and pedagogy, and film screenings. Sponsored by the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS).
  • Akiko Takenaka, University of Kansas, for the “Engaging with Global Asia in Community College Classrooms” workshop on September 16, 2022. Sponsored by the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA).
  • Zach Smith, University of Central Arkansas, for the “K-12 Outreach Track/ Asia Across the Curriculum: Encountering Asia in Wellness, Science, Music, and Art Classrooms” at the 51st Southwest Conference on Asian Studies on October 8, 2022. The outreach event registered K-12 an undergraduate educators on “Asia Across the Curriculum.” Sponsored by the Southwest Conference on Asian Studies (SWCAS)
2019 Grants
  • Shawn Bender, Dickinson College, for the “Teaching Asia Workshop: Teaching Asian Studies in the Digital Age” to be held on Saturday October 12, 2019, which is also the first day of the MARAAS Conference. The Workshop is designed, first, to introduce K-12 educators to scholarly perspectives on new digital media and, second, to explore the potential of the digital humanities in teaching about Asia. Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies (MARAAS).
  • Alex Peh and Nathen Clerici, SUNY New Paltz, for a series of “Southeast Asian Music Workshops for Local Educators and the Community” culminating in a community concert performance featuring contemporary Burmese Sandaya and Filipino Kulintang at SUNY New Paltz on October 5, 2019, the last day of the NYCAS 2019 conference. Sponsored by the New York Council on Asian Studies (NYCAS).
  • Xizhen Qin, University of South Florida, for the “K-12 Chinese Teacher Training Workshop: Integrating Culture into the Chinese Language Class” to be incorporated into the Southeastern Conference, Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS) annual conference to be held in January 2020. This workshop seeks to provide opportunities to develop deeper understandings of recent developments and best practices in the field of Chinese language pedagogy in order to facilitate smooth K-12 articulation as the field continues to grow. Goals include raising the overall quality of Chinese language instruction in Florida, providing a mechanism and path that leads to teacher certification, and creating a teacher support network. Sponsored by the Southeastern Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS).
  • Chris Lundry, El Colegio de Mexico, for the “Asian Studies in Mexico and Latin America” one day seminar to be held on October 17, 2019, the day before the start of the 2019 Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies Meeting, at El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico. This seminar will promote Asian Studies to nearby Mexican universities such as UNAM, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, and others, where in some cases there are faculty with research interests in Asia. It will feature informative sessions on what Asia experts at ColMex and other institutions do, with time for brainstorming ideas from faculty at other institutions as to what would help them to understand, promote, and encourage students’ interest in Asian Studies. Sponsored by the Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (WCAAS).
2018 Grants
  • David Kenley, Mahua Bhattacharya, and Nobu Takahashi, Elizabethtown College (PA), for the “Teaching Asia Workshop: Peace in Asia” one-day training opportunity for K-12 teachers to receive exposure to contemporary and historical issues related to Asia to be held Friday, November 2, 2018 and which will open the three day 2018 MAR/AAS annual conference to be held in Elizabethtown, PA. This workshop will focus on the theme of global engagement and peacemaking. Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies (MAR/AAS).
  • Sumiko Otsubo, Metropolitan State University (St. Paul, MN), for the “Nuclear Asia: Prospects for Peace” public engagement event (film and panel discussion program on the past, present, and future of nuclear weapons issues in Asia), to be held on October 20, 2018 in conjunction with the MCAA 2018 conference at Metropolitan State University. Sponsored by the Midwest Conference of Asian Affairs (MCAA).
  • Michael Lever, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), for the “Performing Asia: Imagining Asian Performance Art, Traditional and Modern” performing arts venue to be held at RIT’s Ingle Auditorium on Friday evening September 21, 2018 and which will showcase local/regional student groups Asian-themed performing arts held in conjunction with the 2018 NYCAS conference. Sponsored by the New York Council on Asian Studies (NYCAS)
  • Lucien Ellington, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Rhodes College, for the “China and East Asia: Middle and High School World History and Geography” outreach workshop for K-12 teachers to be incorporated into the Southeastern Conference, Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS) annual conference to be held in January 2019. This workshop is a culminating educational experience for 20 Memphis-are teachers who are responsible for classroom instruction, utilizing new Tennessee world history and geography standards beginning in fall 2019. Sponsored by the Southeastern Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS).
2017 Grants
  • Rebecca Clothey, Drexel University, for the “Teaching Asia Workshop: Mobility, Technology, and the Environment” one-day training opportunity for K-12 teachers to receive exposure to contemporary and historical issues related to Asia to be held Friday, October 13, 2017 as part of the three day MAR/AAS annual conference to be held in Philadelphia. Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies (MAR/AAS).
  • Krista Van Fleit Hang, University of South Carolina, for the “Cotton Road: Connecting Southeastern Farmers and Chinese Factory Workers in South Carolina Classrooms” workshop and film screening for K-12 teachers to be incorporated into the Southeastern Conference, Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS) annual conference to be held in January 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina. Sponsored by the Southeastern Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS).
2016 Grants
  • Joanna Pecore and Erik Ropers, Towson University, for the “Teaching Asia Workshop: Inspired by Tradition: China’s Precious Folk Potters” to be held Saturday, October 15, 2016 as part of the three day MAR/AAS annual conference. Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies (MAR/AAS).
  • Duane Johansen, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, for the “Growing Up Asian: Coming of Age in Asian and Asian-American Cinema” two-day seminar for regional educators and educational professionals to be held in conjunction with the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA) annual conference scheduled for October 14-16, 2016. Sponsored by the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA).
  • David Wittner, Utica College, for the “Kiito Shōhyō: Raw Silk Trademark Labels and Japanese Natinalism” exhibit running from September 9 through October 28, 2016. The exhibit coincides with the New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS) annual conference scheduled to be held September 23-24, 2016. Sponsored by the New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS).
  • Noell Wilson, The University of Mississippi, for the “The Past is Never Dead: William Faulkner and Haruki Murakami as Literary Bridges to Asia” seminar for K-12 teachers as part of the Southeastern Conference, Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS) annual conference to be held on January 13-15, 2017. Sponsored by the Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS).
2015 Grants
  • Brenda Jordan, University of Pittsburgh, for the “Teaching Asia: Transformations and Challenges” workshop to be held October 10, 2015 in conjunction with the MAR/AAS annual conference. Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies (MAR/AAS).
  • Rebecca Copeland, Washington University in St. Louis, for the “Beyond Ferguson, Beyond Race and Back: Discrimination in East Asia” workshop for regional educators to be held October 10, 2015 preceding the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs. Sponsored by the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA).
  • Hiromi Dollase, Seungsook Moon, and Peipei Qiu, Vassar College, for the “Globalization and Asian Food Culture” two-day workshop and photo exhibition to be held in conjunction with the New York Conference on Asian Studies annual conference on October 16-17, 2015. Sponsored by the New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS).
  • Steve Riep, Brigham Young University, for the “Narratives of Asia for Art History and the Social Sciences” teaching program as part of the Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies annual conference to be held on October 9-10, 2015. Sponsored by the Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (WCAAS).