On Friday, January 20, 2012, Dr. Endah Agustiana, Gender Adviser and OHIO graduate (Communication Studies, 2005), made a presentation on women’s leadership and democratic governance in post-conflict Southeast Asian Countries. For more information on Dr. Agustiana and her work, click here.

Mr. John Brandon, director of The Asia Foundation's International Relations programs, as well as the associate director of the Washington, D.C. office, presented a lecture as part of the Center for International Studies Forum on Friday, January 13, 2012. Mr. Brandon spoke on “The Future of International and Area Studies: Southeast Asia.”

A Southeast Asia specialist by training, Mr. Brandon's opinion pieces on the region have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Los Angeles Times, and other newspapers around the United States. He is the editor of Burma/Myanmar Towards the Twenty-First Century: The Dynamics of Continuity and Change (New York: Open Society Institute, 1997) a contributor to Burma: Prospects for a Democratic Future (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1998) and co-author of The 1990 Election in Myanmar (Washington, D.C.: The International Human Rights Law Group, 1990). He also served as a member of the Council of Foreign Relations Task Force study, chaired by former Senator Robert Kerrey, entitled The United States and Southeast Asia: A Policy Agenda for the New Administration (July 2001).

On Friday, October 21, Dr. Amitav Acharya presented a lecture entitled, “The Arab Spring and the Asian Summer: Democracy and its Discontents in a Rising Asia,” at 3pm in Bentley Hall Room 124. Dr. Acharya is the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Studies Center. Previously, he was Professor of Global Governance at the University of Bristol, Professor at York University, Toronto, and at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Fellow of the Harvard University Asia Center, and Fellow of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. His recent books include Whose Ideas Matter? (Cornell, 2009); Beyond Iraq: The Future of World Order (co-edited, World Scientific, 2011); Non-Western International Relations Theory (co-edited, Routledge, 2010); and The Making of Southeast Asia (Cornell, 2011). The event is part of the Center for International Studies Forum Series.

On Friday, October 7, Dr. Jenny Nelson, Associate Professor in the School of Media Arts and Studies, presented a lecture entitled “Arab Spring, Summer…and Fall: Problematizing Social Media.” Dr. Nelson was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Morocco in 1996, was elected to the Board of Scholars by the International Communicology Institute in 2007, and recently returned from teaching for two years in the United Arab Emirates. The event was part of the Center for International Studies Forum Series.

TVolunteers in Asia (VIA) is accepting applications until January 15th for one-year volunteer positions starting July 2012. Positions are available in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Volunteers teach English and build capacity at NGOs working to prevent human trafficking, protect the environment, and improve community development. Our one-year program includes:

• Pre-departure orientation at Stanford University
• In-country and home office support
• Emergency Medical and Evacuation Insurance
• Language instruction
• TESOL Training
• Cross Cultural Training
• Living Stipend/Housing
• Annual Conference
• Subsidized participant program fee

VIA is a non-profit started at Stanford University in 1963 that has sent nearly 2,000 young Americans to volunteer in Asia. New volunteers join a community of alumni that work or teach at leading foundations, NGOs, businesses, and universities in the U.S. and across Asia. Join us for a rare opportunity for personal and professional growth while making a difference in underserved communities.

For more information, go to www.viaprograms.org or contact Patrick Arnold directly at Patrick@viaprograms.org.

The Society for Asian Music is pleased to announce the availability of two small grants to support research in Asian music. Grants will range from $2000-$4000 and are available for projects taking place from June 2012 to May 2013. Applicants must be full-time graduate students enrolled in U.S. institutions and may use these funds to supplement other grants. Grants are to be used for research, including fieldwork, pre-dissertation research, travel, language study, and other related activities. Grant proposals will be evaluated on the clarity of research objectives and the proposed budget being reasonable and sufficient to accomplish these objectives. During the year of their award, grantees may be invited to make a presentation of their research at the Society for Asian Music Annual Membership Meeting (held in conjunction with the Society for Ethnomusicology annual conference). At the end of the award year, grantees will be required to provide a report of their research progress, which will be published on the Society’s website.

Please submit a proposal of no more than 500 words to Frederick Lau (fredlau@hawaii.edu) by February 15, 2012. Proposals should include: (1) a project description, (2) an explanation of how the project fits into the applicant's current degree program; (3) a description of how the funds will be used; and (4) a detailed budget. Results will be announced by May 30, 2012.

The Center for Khmer Studies (CKS), located in beautiful northern Cambodia, is offering 5 American undergraduates an exciting opportunity to join Cambodian and French students on a 6 week Summer Junior Resident Fellowship Program. The program provides a unique experience allowing students to live and study alongside others from different backgrounds and cultures while learning about the history and society of today’s Cambodia. During their residency students will be based at the CKS campus in Siem Reap, which is situated in the beautiful grounds of Wat Damnak, one of the town’s largest Buddhist pagodas, only minutes away from the famous Angkor World Heritage Site with its enigmatic temples. It has a full range of study and research facilities, including the largest publicly accessible research library outside of Phnom Penh with over 12,000 books, journals and other reading materials in English French and Khmer, study carrels for up to twenty fellows, a spacious seminar room and conference hall. Resident fellows will also spend time studying in Cambodia’s capital city Phnom Penh. Deadline for applications is: April 11, 2012

AAPR seeks papers exploring 1) the social, economic and political factors impacting the AAPI community and 2) the role of AAPI individuals and communities in analyzing, shaping, and implementing public policy. We strongly encourage submissions from writers of all backgrounds, including scholars, policy makers, civil servants, advocates, and organizers.

For more information, contact Christine at cseas@ohio.edu or email The Center for Khmer Studies Summer Fellowship Program, Tith Srey Pich, at fellowships@khmerstudies.org.
Visit the CKS website at www.khmerstudies.org

The Asian American Policy Review (AAPR) at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government is now accepting submissions for its 22nd edition, to be published in the spring of 2012.Founded in 1989, AAPR is the first non-partisan academic journal in the country dedicated to analyzing public policy issues facing the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

AAPR seeks papers exploring 1) the social, economic and political factors impacting the AAPI community and 2) the role of AAPI individuals and communities in analyzing, shaping, and implementing public policy. We strongly encourage submissions from writers of all backgrounds, including scholars, policy makers, civil servants, advocates, and organizers.

Selection Criteria
The AAPR will select papers for publication based on the following criteria:

• Relevance of topic to AAPI issues and timeliness to current debates
• Originality of ideas and depth of research
• Sophistication and style of argument
• Contribution to scholarship and debates on AAPI issues

Submissions Guidelines

• All submissions must be previously unpublished and based on original work
• All submissions must be formatted according to The Chicago Manual of Style
• Authors are required to cooperate with editing and fact-checking and to comply with AAPR’s mandated deadlines. Authors who fail to meet these requirements may not be published
• All submissions must include a cover letter with (1) author’s name, (2) mailing address, (3) email address, (4) phone number, and (5) a brief biography of no more than 300 words
• Research articles should be 4,000 to 7,000 words in length and include a 100 word abstract
• Commentaries should be 1,500 to 3,000 words in length
• All figures, tables, and charts must be clear, easy to understand, and submitted as separate files

The deadline for submissions is 11:59PM, December 5, 2011. Email submissions to aapr@hks.harvard.edu.

The Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, the nation's largest nonprofit organization devoted to providing college scholarships for Asian Americans and Pacific Islander students, is currently accepting applications for the 2012-2013 scholarship cycle.

During the 2011-2012 scholarship cycle, APIASF awarded more than $1.2 million to over 500 students in 43 states and students in the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and American Samoa. Underserved students, they want to give this money to you!

To be eligible for a scholarship, you must:

• Be of Asian and/or Pacific Islander ethnicity (including Southeast Asian) as defined by the U.S. Census
• Be a citizen, national, or legal permanent resident of the United States. Citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau are also eligible to apply
• Be enrolling in a U.S. accredited college or university in the Fall of 2012. Please read each listing for specific eligibility requirements regarding the academic standing required for each scholarship.
• Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.7 on a 4.0 scale (unweighted) or have earned a GED
• Must apply for federal financial aid using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by February 1
• Submit one letter of recommendation

The current cycle's applications are due on January 13, 2012. For further information about APIASF's scholarship programs, including details on how to apply and other frequently asked questions, click here.

The Michigan Journal of Asian Studies (M-JAS) is a new journal out of the University of Michigan, supported by the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. M-JAS is dedicated to publishing undergraduate and graduate work on the broad topic of Asia (East, Southeast, South, and Central).

According to Alex Harley, M-JAS editor, Asia is becoming the new frontier in the world, and although "Asia" is widely reported on in the news, often it is lumped into one mass, and its contours are not addressed adequately in scholarly journals. M-JAS is actively seeking submissions.. This is a great opportunity for students to be published in an academic journal on an area of the world that is rapidly growing in importance.

Submission guidelines can be found on the M-JAS website: www.m-jas.org. All questions, comments, and submissions can be sent to michiganjournalofasianstudies@umich.edu.

These and other publications in JSAAEA are freely accessible at: www.jsaaea.org