UB launches Asia Research Institute with inaugural conference

The Office of International Education launched the Asia Research Institute (ARI), a multidisciplinary hub and collaborative space for research and education about Asia and its diasporic communities, with an inaugural conference last month.    

“Following numerous conversations with faculty in my first months at UB, it became clear that a central institute supporting faculty research and student learning about Asia would be extremely valuable for faculty, students and our community, and would enhance the university’s profile nationally and internationally,” says Nojin Kwak, vice provost for international education.

ARI aims to establish UB’s prominence on important and contemporary issues regarding Asia, and provide regional and national leadership on Asia research. The institute leverages and amplifies the expertise of faculty across the university, while engaging the university’s diverse Asian and Asian American stakeholders.

ARI also provides enriching research and volunteer opportunities for students, including the new Undergraduate Fellows Program, to further UB’s mission to cultivate future generations of leaders with international acumen. 

The institute’s inaugural conference April 21-22, titled “#Asia: Here and Now,” engaged UB faculty and colleagues from around the country in conversations on four major themes: crossing boundaries in Asian studies, current issues in public health in Asia, comparative education in Asia and the U.S., and being Asian in America: politics, education and the pandemic. The conference featured two panels highlighting the Asia-related research of UB faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture and Planning, and the School of Social Work.

Sessions, held over two days in the Buffalo Room in Capen Hall, included 60 in-person and 30 virtual attendees, among them UB faculty, students and community members.

The conference also featured an evening of celebration at the Center for Tomorrow, with remarks from President Satish K. Tripathi; A. Scott Weber; provost and executive vice president for academic affairs; and Kwak. Attendees enjoyed performances by UB student groups Buffalo Bhangra, KASANOVA and the Buffalo Chips, as well as a viola-guzheng duet by Leanne Darling, adjunct instructor in the UB Department of Music, and Daisy Wu, visiting associate professor of music at Alfred University.

“Our Asia Research Institute builds on UB’s commitment to global engagement by enriching our understanding of 21st-century Asia,” Tripathi said in his remarks. “This new institute will have a significant impact on our research enterprise, our education and our student experience.”

Added Kwak: “The inclusion of community leaders and student performers at the inaugural celebration highlighted the broad impact the institute will have on campus and throughout Western New York.”

Prior to its official launch, ARI had organized and co-sponsored a variety of symposia, lectures and student events throughout the  spring semester, among them a roundtable on supply chains in Asia, an undergraduate student conference on South Asia, a symposium on Korean film and drama, and celebrations and contests for Korean language students.

Financial support for ARI’s Korea-related research, events and student experiences is provided by a grant from the Academy of Korean Studies.

“The Korean film symposium involved panels and keynote addresses by leading scholars of Korean cinema and television from around the world and included a number of impressive graduate student presentations,” says Bruce Acker, ARI assistant director. “As one part of this very productive, three-day international symposium, we were pleased to hold a film screening and keynote address at Squeaky Wheel.”

Later this summer, ARI will welcome 50 students from Korea as part of a program sponsored by Gyeonggi Province in South Korea. The program will run for four weeks in July and offer students an opportunity to learn about U.S. higher education and research universities, and introduce them to American culture as experienced in Western New York. The Korean students will interact with UB students serving as “cultural liaisons” for the delegation and learn about some of UB’s cutting-edge faculty research programs.