U.S.-China Institute offers overseas opportunities

This article was originally published by the Daily Trojan on Oct. 18, 2006.

by Charles Ashton

Posted: 10/18/06

A new USC institute aimed at bringing the United States-China relationship under the academic microscope intends to provide students an edge in a future job market by offering new classes, minors, internships and overseas study opportunities.

The new offerings will be centered on building students' knowledge of an international relationship that those involved with the new USC U.S.-China Institute said to be increasingly important.

"This is a campus-wide initiative," said Clayton Dube, the associate director of the institute. He said the institute is calling upon various departments and faculty members to help develop new educational offerings for graduates and undergraduates, which will range from helping design a Web site for the institute to taking a semester of specialized classes in China.

Dube and others involved with the institute said it would be defined by its goal of studying the ties that bind the United States and China from a social science perspective and furnishing policy-makers and the media with objective information.

"It's going to be a major operation," said Stanley Rosen, a USC political science professor and member of the U.S.-China Institute steering committee. "It will be very beneficial to USC; it will put USC on the map when it comes to Chinese studies."

The institute is funded by the USC provost's office, though Dube would not disclose the dollar amount. "It's enough to get us started," he said, adding that it's a "substantial sum of money."

The institute will be sponsoring its first conference in April, titled "The Future of U.S.-China Relations." Academic researchers and public policy advocates are slated to participate.

University officials decided last summer to create the institute after taking note of China's increasing influence on the U.S. economy, said members of the institute steering committee.

They said too little research is coming from think tanks and other colleges and universities on the U.S.-China relationship, and the institute aims to fill that void with social-science research sponsored by USC.

"This is a pretty significant deal," said Jim Ellis, USC senior executive director of Global Initiatives and a member of the U.S.-China Institute steering committee. "There's a lot happening in China from a social standpoint. The better we understand it, the better off we're going to be - as a world."

Institute steering-committee members stress that the information the institute will provide to policy-makers, business leaders and journalists will be objective.

"This does not have a partisan or ideological slant," said Elizabeth Garrett, USC vice president for academic planning and budget and a member of the steering committee.

She said that although think tanks conduct research similar to what the U.S.-China Institute will be undertaking, "they tend to come at issues with a point of view" and focus on "what piece of legislation is going to be in front of Congress Tuesday.

"We try to figure out the right answer," she said, "not the Republican or Democratic answer."

Garrett said the considerable amount of research the institute will be undertaking will offer students "an opportunity to grapple with what it is to produce knowledge, not just receive knowledge."

Although the institute has a social science focus, students with a wide range of abilities and interests will be included to help build the new institute from its small beginnings to a fully developed form, Dube said.

The institute has yet to hire a faculty director to oversee the institute and is operating out of temporary offices in Ronald Tutor Hall until it moves into permanent offices in the Jefferson Building, next to the Dental School; Dube said he hired the first staffer for the institute last week.

Videography, journalism, publishing, Web design and research represent some of the opportunities students can take advantage of at the new institute to explore their passions and hone their skills, said Dube, who has heard from many interested students.

"I've been inundated with phone calls," he said.

Dube said he will start recruiting students in November to help create and maintain a Web site for the institute. He expects the site to have a major Web presence and resemble a successful China-focused Web site he oversaw as a previous UCLA faculty member.

A new geology course, a minor and an overseas summer study program are also under consideration, Dube said. The new offerings will all examine the relationship between the United States and China through a social science lens, he said. The institute will offer many internships, he said.

Dube envisions the overseas study program lasting six to eight weeks and involving specialized classes and seminars that will give students "hands-on experience" in conducting research in China. He said he expects students to have their first opportunity to participate in this program in the summer of 2008.

"Teaching them in China and using a Chinese city as the subject being studied (will represent) the best possible opportunity to learn about the new China and how that China is connected to the United States," Dube said.

He also said the university will be hiring five to seven new faculty members to teach new courses developed by the institute and existing courses that will be overhauled on the recommendation of the institute.

He said the institute will be "working to infuse the study of contemporary China throughout the curriculum.

"We ought to include some things about that place where one out of every five human beings lives - China," said Dube.

Dube said the institute has yet to undertake any research but will be asking faculty members and graduate students for research proposals next month. He said approved projects will receive funding early next year.

"I am struck by the energy present here and the opportunity we have," he said.

Dube said USC students who take advantage of coming educational opportunities created by the institute will have the edge in a job market in which knowledge of China is an increasingly valued commodity.

"By the time the average USC student has grandchildren, the Chinese economy will be the largest in the world," he said. "You can choose to ignore China, but China will be a part of your future."