2007-11-28 Sociology professor named to head new Asian Studies program

In the not-too-distant past, Asian studies at Texas A&M University meant a visit to the sushi bar across the street from campus.

All that changed in September with the university’s official recognition of a new Asian studies program, with sociology professor Dudley Poston as its director.

Poston said he first became interested in Asia as a professor at the University of Texas in the early 1980s, when he advised three of the first Chinese graduate students sent to the university. He worked with them in writing their masters theses and doctoral dissertations on China-related topics.

“It was serendipity,” he said. “I always wonder, if those three people hadn’t ended up in my office and taken me on as their advisor, if I ever would have gotten into China and into [other parts of] Asia.”

Since, he has made 25 trips to China for conferences and research projects in addition to having lived there for a year. He estimates that 85 percent of his work deals with China, South Korea and Taiwan.

While teaching at Cornell University in the late ’80s, Poston became acquainted with a relatively large and eclectic Asian studies program, which incorporated faculty members and students of many different disciplines. Three years ago, Poston joined several other faculty members and associate deans in the College of Liberal Arts in beginning the process to develop a similar program at A&M.

The program now involves about 25 faculty members of various departments and colleges whose courses concentrate on Asia. Students of almost any major can earn an interdisciplinary minor in Asian studies by studying subjects ranging from political science and sociology to history and geology; some students also take class work in the Chinese, Japanese or Arabic languages.

“I think [the Asian studies minor] benefits the university tremendously,” he said. “With regards to China and India, just those two countries are about 40 percent of the world’s population; all of Asia is way more than half. It’s a tremendous opportunity. That’s where the action is in the future.”

In the two months since the program’s official recognition, 15 students have already declared a minor in Asian studies, Poston said.

He added that he is working with the faculty to form connections with campus organizations such as the Pacific Asian Institute and the Chinese Faculty Association to spread awareness of the new program.

“We’re trying to reach out and become known,” he said. “[There are] lots of students, not just from our college, who want to learn more about Asia. Now people can minor in it. Maybe in another few years, they can major in it.”

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By: Jaclyn Upshaw
Contact: Dr. Dudley Poston,d-poston@tamu.edu