Category: Announcement

Academic Coordinator I for the Center for Taiwan Studies

Posted on | by Rebeca Adam

Job #JPF02678
East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies / College of Letters & Science – Humanities and Fine Arts / UC Santa Barbara

Apply now: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02678/apply
View this position online: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02678

POSITION OVERVIEW
Salary range: See Table 36 and Table 36N for the salary range for this position. A reasonable estimate for this position is an annual salary of $59,727 at fulltime annualized rate.
Percent time: 50.0%

APPLICATION WINDOW
Open date: January 19, 2024
Next review date: Wednesday, Apr 3, 2024 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.
Final date: Sunday, June 30, 2024 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

POSITION DESCRIPTION
The Center for Taiwan Studies (CTS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara, invites applications for a half-time Academic Coordinator I position. This is a 12-month fiscal year appointment(non-tenure track). The Academic Coordinator (AC) assists the Center for Taiwan Studies Director in developing and implementing programming consistent with the mission of the Center, including yearly international conferences of scholars whose work relates to Taiwan, and two to three quarterly events, such as movie showings, lectures, cultural events, graduate student forums, etc. The AC also assists, as needed, with events
in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies that include Taiwan in full or as a component. The goal of the programming at CTS is to promote Taiwan Studies and to educate students, scholars, and community members about the culture, literature, history, society, and politics of Taiwan. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship.

Program Administration
The AC performs administrative functions for CTS, serving as a key contact for all visiting speakers, UCSB faculty, staff and students, and the off-campus community. The AC oversees the coordination and implementation of all Center activities and interacts with public speakers and visiting scholars, writers, authors, and other public figures. This includes arranging accommodations, venues, food, technical assistance, logistics, agendas, name cards, posters, and office support.

The AC is also responsible for assisting the Director in implementing research and learning support opportunities for UCSB students and faculty associated with the Center. The AC manages routine communication with faculty and community members; supervises and coordinates visits and events, including receptions for visiting speakers; maintains budget records for the program; coordinates travel and lodging for speakers; supervises student assistants; maintains the website; and supervises public information materials, such as the quarterly calendar, publications, and interviews with speakers.

Program Analysis and Evaluation
The AC analyzes the Center’s budget and prepares regular reports for the Center Director regarding the Center’s finances. The AC assists with grant writing and reporting, and program analysis. The AC monitors the demographics of program attendance and works with other campus centers and programs to coordinate co-sponsored events and to ensure diversity of participants and audience. The AC assists the Director in writing and editing grant proposals and reports.

Publishing & Design Work
The AC edits and designs proceedings, anthologies of Taiwan literature, and other publication projects, including the biannual journal, Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series. Editorial assistance includes editing, writing, and proofreading for CTS publications, the CTS newsletter, webpages, and flyers for public lectures and cultural events.

The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service as appropriate to the position.

QUALIFICATIONS
Basic qualifications (required at time of application)
M.A. in the humanities or social sciences.

Additional qualifications (required at time of start)
•1-2 years of experience working within an academic institution
•1-2 years of experience in a position that required administrative and organizational activities
•1-2 years of experience designing marketing materials and books in InDesign and Photoshop
•2-3 years of experience using Word and Excel for standard administrative duties.

Preferred qualifications
•Experience coordinating public events
•Strong written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills
•Significant editing, writing, and proofreading skills and experience
•Ability to prioritize, conduct, and manage multiple projects
•Ability to oversee and mentor student assistants
•Experience in financial management
•Demonstrated ability to write reports and communications to high-level grant-dispensing institutions
•Familiarity with Taiwan and its culture
• Basic reading and conversation proficiency in Chinese language

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Document requirements
• Curriculum Vitae – Your most recently updated C.V.
• Cover Letter
Reference requirements
• 2-4 required (contact information only)
Applicants must provide contact information for two references. All applicants have the option to provide an additional two references. In total, four references
may be provided. A reference check will be performed for the top-ranked candidate following their interview.

Apply link: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02678
Help contact: rebeca_adam@ucsb.edu

ABOUT UC SANTA BARBARA
The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs, as may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

JOB LOCATION
Santa Barbara, CA

Ursula Friedman defending her dissertation

Dr. Ursula Friedman Defends Dissertation, Accepts Harvard Postdoctoral Fellowship

Posted on | by Thomas Mazanec

We are delighted to share that Ursula Friedman, a graduate student in EACLS and Comparative Literature, has successfully defended her dissertation titled “Self-translation as Method: Modern Sinophone Self-translators and their Transmediated Afterlives,” with a committee of Hangping Xu (advisor), Xiaorong Li, and Dominique Jullien She has accepted a postdoctoral fellowship position in Translation Studies and Comparative Literature at Harvard University in their College Fellows program. Please join us in congratulating Ursula on her accomplishments!

Ursula’s dissertation investigates the cultural politics and cosmopolitan aesthetics of self-translation as a literary phenomenon, that is, authors translate their own works into other languages. Expanding the notion of self-translation to include questions of transmediation, her project also looks at the ways in which our increasingly hypermediated world offers literature certain aesthetic and critical affordances when it is being rendered and disseminated in other mediums such as film and theatre. Meticulously analyzing self-translated texts, their transmediated iterations, the itineraries of circulation, and historical contexts, the project makes significant contributions to such fields as Translation Studies, Comparative Literature, Media Studies, and Chinese and Sinophone Literary and Cultural Studies. It is perhaps worth noting that among the several Chinese and Sinophone authors whom Ursula’s dissertation examines, one is actually a founding member of our department, namely, Kenneth Hsien-yung Pai (白先勇).

Keita Moore in front of a Dragon Quest statue

Keita Moore Accepts Assistant Professorship at Ohio State

Posted on | by Thomas Mazanec

We are proud to share that Keita Moore, currently finishing his dissertation, “Grand Designs: Videogames, Social Regulation, and the Politics of Wasted Time in Contemporary Japan,” has accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature at the Ohio State University. Congratulations, Assistant Professor Keita Moore!

Carl Gabrielson in front of a projector showing Japanese imagery

Dr. Carl Gabrielson Defends His Dissertation

Posted on | by Thomas Mazanec

We are pleased to announce that Carl Gabrielson has successfully defended his dissertation, “Ambassadors, Apples, and Adversaries: American Military Narratives of the U.S. Japan Alliance,” an ethnographic exploration of the ways that U.S. military personnel in Japan make sense of Japanese culture and their place in it, and the intended and unintended consequences of encountering a foreign culture within a militarized context. Please join us in congratulating Carl on earning his PhD!

a water color painting of 2 pots and flowers

New Approaches to Traditional Chinese Food Culture: A Workshop, on 3/9-10

Posted on | by Thomas Mazanec

We are pleased to host “New Approaches to Traditional Chinese Food Culture: A Workshop” on March 9-10, 2024, organized by Thomas Mazanec and Wandi Wang. This in-person workshop, featuring papers by 15 leading scholars from 11 institutions across the globe, will bridge sinology and food studies, presenting innovative approaches to the intersection of food and culture in China from the fifth to the twentieth century. It will demonstrate how food studies can enrich the understanding of historical Chinese literature, religion, history, medicine, and material culture, and how methods from these disciplines can bring new questions to food studies.

In-person attendance is open to all, provided that they register (for free) at tinyurl.com/ChineseFoodWorkshop by March 4. This is an in-person workshop, so there will be no Zoom component.
Funding for this event comes from the Geiss-Hsu Foundation, Umami Papa, the International Chinese Gastronomy Culture Foundation, the Association for the Study of Food and Society, Google Giving, the Society for Song Yuan and Conquest Dynasty Studies, and UCSB’s College of Letters and Sciences, East Asia Center, Graduate Center for Literary Research, Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, and its Departments of History, Religious Studies, and East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies.
Title: New Approaches to Traditional Chinese Food Culture: A Workshop
Dates: March 9-10, 2024
Time: 9am-3pm
Place: McCune Conference Center, HSSB 6020
Registration: tinyurl.com/ChineseFoodWorkshop by March 4
black ink splotches on a white paper

New Book by Prof. Thomas Mazanec: Poet-Monks

Posted on | by Thomas Mazanec

Book cover for "Poet-Monks: The Invention of Buddhist Poetry in Late Medieval China" by Thomas J. Mazanec

Prof. Thomas Mazanec’s book, Poet-Monks: The Invention of Buddhist Poetry in Late Medieval China, is now available from Cornell University Press.

Poet-Monks focuses on the literary and religious practices of Buddhist poet-monks in Tang-dynasty China to propose an alternative historical arc of medieval Chinese poetry. Combining large-scale quantitative analysis with close readings of important literary texts, Thomas J. Mazanec describes how Buddhist poet-monks, who first appeared in the latter half of Tang-dynasty China, asserted a bold new vision of poetry that proclaimed the union of classical verse with Buddhist practices of repetition, incantation, and meditation.

Mazanec traces the historical development of the poet-monk as a distinct actor in the Chinese literary world, arguing for the importance of religious practice in medieval literature. As they witnessed the collapse of the world around them, these monks wove together the frayed threads of their traditions to establish an elite-style Chinese Buddhist poetry. Poet-Monks shows that during the transformative period of the Tang-Song transition, Buddhist monks were at the forefront of poetic innovation.

You can download an open-access digital edition for free here, or you can purchase a physical copy from the publisher’s website (30% off with code 09BCARD).