History
Established in 1969, the mission of the East Asian Studies Center is the broad dissemination of basic knowledge and advanced research on the cultures, languages, history, politics, and economies of East Asia.
For more than five decades EASC has strengthened an already high-ranking East Asian program by securing external funding. EASC won Comprehensive National Resource Center funding from the U.S. Department of Education from 1981 to 1991, from 1994 to 2003, and again from 2006 to the present. We received annual Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship support from 1972 to 2003, and again from 2006 to the present. In addition, the Ohio Board of Regents' Academic Challenge Program designated EASC a Center of Excellence in 1986. We have also received substantial support from the Freeman Foundation, the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, the Ohio Department of Development, the US - Japan Friendship Commission, the Japan Oil Transport Company, the Korea Foundation and other sources.
Now in our fifth decade, EASC coordinates East Asian Studies research, instruction, and outreach, helping OSU to fulfill our academic plan, our land-grant educational mandate, the highest intellectual goals of our faculty and students, and the needs of our citizens. EASC supports teaching, extra-curricular activities, study abroad, and research initiatives of faculty, students, and visitors to OSU and is the home of our interdisciplinary East Asian Studies M.A. program. We organize scholarly and public events in collaboration with colleges, universities, schools, and civic groups in Ohio, the Midwest, and the nation, as well as sharing OSU's substantial faculty expertise with the educational, cultural, governmental, and business communities in the region. We are the state coordinator for the National Consortium for Teaching on Asia program. Our reference and research resources serve the state and larger academic community through the East Asian Library, OhioLink, the EASC Media Library, and our affiliated institutes.
As a land grant university, OSU's East Asian studies programs pride themselves on strengths in business and economics, language pedagogy, history, literature, art history, religion, and cultural studies, as well as providing teacher training. EASC promotes the introduction of new courses and degree programs, continued improvement in access technology for the library's on-line collections, and constant expansion of the library's collection. We also maintain collaborative links and programs with OSU's National East Asian Language Resource Center (NEALRC), and OSU's strong professional schools. Our cooperative involvements with Ohio universities and colleges, state government trade and economic development projects, and state and local school district P-12 education programs strengthen East Asian Studies statewide. OSU's flagship status among Ohio universities has enabled Ohio's China and Japan sister-state and sister-city programs to provide overseas training and research opportunities for students and faculty.
Constituent Institutes
EASC's affiliated Institute for Chinese Studies, Institute for Japanese Studies, and Institute for Korean Studies further implement our goals of broadening and deepening knowledge of East Asia on campus and throughout the community, the region, and the nation.
The Institute for Chinese Studies (ICS), founded in 2001, serves as a center for scholarly research, general education, and public programming for faculty, students, the P-12 community, and members of the general public to develop expertise on China. ICS disseminates news both online and in print, conducts workshops in schools, organizes an annual lecture series, coordinates major scholarly events, and assists in the administration of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Specialization in Chinese Cultural Studies. The recipient of a Freeman Foundation Undergraduate East Asian Studies Initiative grant, the institute's activities have focused on the development of invited scholarly presentations in classrooms and at conferences, new courses across the disciplines, innovative study-abroad programs, and support for undergraduate research. The institute also facilitates the development of institutional ties with universities in the Chinese-speaking world.
The Institute for Japanese Studies (IJS) was created in 1985 through a gubernatorial initiative in recognition of Ohio's national status as the second greatest site of Japanese manufacturing investment. Between 1985 and 1995 IJS received $1.8 million from the state of Ohio to intensify language training, introduce courses for students in professional schools, and reach out to businesses and the community. Today it continues to vigorously promote education and research about Japan.
The Institute for Korean Studies (IKS) at The Ohio State University began as the Korean Studies Initiative in 2005, and was established as an Institute in 2011. IKS' mission is to foster new collaborative relationships between the educational, cultural, and governmental institutions of Ohio and Korea by bringing together faculty, students, and the larger communities from each area. In order to do so, IKS provides opportunities for both the campus community and the general community to acquire background and expertise in the culture, language, history, and politics of Korea. Programs, including an annual lecture series and a number of culturally-focused events, are also supported in cooperation with the East Asian Studies Center (EASC) and other divisions of The Ohio State University.