Colorado Journal of Asian Studies
We are pleased to announce the upcoming 2020 issue of the Colorado Journal of Asian Studies, which will be published at the end of the Spring 2021 semester. This issue contains papers written by students in last year’s ASIA 4830 Senior Seminar class and excerpts from an honors thesis in International Affairs, as well as a special section featuring two policy-oriented papers from the IAFS 4500 Culture and Conflict in South Asia course. These papers cover a wide range of topics and cultures, including “Sexuality and Gender Expression in Male K-Pop Groups: Queering Hwarang Culture, Contemporary Korean Masculinity, and Fandom Desires” (Reilly Gabel); “Painting Identity on the Peninsula: A Century-Long Search for ‘Korean’ Art” (Anne Feller); “Rural-to-Urban Migration in Shanghai: Institutional Barriers and Temporary Migrants” (Renee Gagne); “Investing in Equitable Development in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka” (Thomas Raney); and “Emissions Trading in India: A Policy for Combatting Toxic Air and Global Warming” (Colton Zadkovic).
2020 Asian Studies Graduates
The interdisciplinary major and minor in Asian Studies allow students to study the astonishing diversity of the Asian region.
Spring 2020
- Joseph Archer
- Reilly Gabel
- Kyle Gorges
- Dean Kaplan
- Jonathan Rockford
Summer 2020
- Ga Eun Choi
- Lan Li
- Matthew Palmeri
Asian Studies Minors
Spring 2020
- Zhiyuan He
- Sean Jones
- Samantha Lauckner
- Anthony Striner
- Wuyinan Yuan
Japanese Studies Fellowships
This endowment allows us to provide graduate student support to recognize and encourage the study of Japanese history, anthropology, literature, and language.
- Alana Brack
- Cameron Lea
- Dean Leininger
- Sixuan Lu
- Catherine Otachime
- Ji Y. Shouse
- Mikhail Skovoronskikh
- Tetiana Topolian
- Alyssa Williams
- Cassidy Younggreen
Alumni Updates
Since graduating from CU, Leslie Dong (Asian Studies and International Affairs 2015) has become a successful entrepreneur, an international radio host, and a recipient of a Fulbright-Hayes Public Diplomacy Grant. Leslie has had the chance to host and interview some of the world’s most influential people, including the legendary primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall; the world’s first armless pilot, Jessica Cox; iHeartRadio host Marissa Pei; and the President and Chairman of BP China, Xiaoping Yang. Her team also became the first recipient of the WeWork China Creator’s Award in 2018 along with a $72,000 award. During Leslie’s time at CU-Boulder, she won over 30 scholarships, so amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Leslie has created a new initiative (writingwiththestars.com) to teach students how to secure scholarships and graduate debt-free.
Shae Frydenlund graduated with a PhD in Geography in May 2020. Her dissertation was titled “Support from the south: How refugee labor reproduces cities” and concerned Rohingya and other Burmese Muslim refugees, based on fieldwork in Yangon, Myanmar; Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh; Kuala Lumpur Malaysia; and Aurora, Colorado.
Renee Gagne graduated magna cum laude in May 2020 with a B.A. in International Affairs and minors in Business and Chinese. She completed an honors thesis about the housing and education of migrants in Shanghai, China. She is currently working toward an M.S. in Business Analytics and Security at CU’s Leeds School of Business, and will graduate in May of 2021, after which she aspires to lead a career that allows her to combine her studies of Mandarin, Analytics, and International Affairs.
In late 2020 David Gotsill (Japanese 2001) moved back to Japan, this time to Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture. He has taken a position as deputy general counsel for Tadano, a Japanese mobile crane manufacturer with major operations in the US, Europe, and elsewhere. David is excited to be back for his third time working in Japan, after studying there through CU study abroad programs. He says he is always happy to connect with anyone heading his way or otherwise interested in Japan.
Dorje Tashi (Duojie Zhaxi) graduated in May 2020 with a PhD in Geography. His dissertation was titled “Tibetan farmers in transitional Urbanization, development and labor migration in Amdo.” He is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism at Qinghai Minzu University.
Patricia Yarrow (MA Japanese 2005) started "Informasia,” a new group of academics and colleagues who hold monthly Zoom sessions featuring academic presentations about Japan or the Asian region. This simple idea has brought scholars and friends together from around Japan and beyond, including the U.K., Singapore, Australia, Tasmania, and the USA. It has brought a bit of joy into the lives of sequestered scholars. Informasia meets at 7:00 p.m. JST on the third Monday of every month. The Zoom session opens at 6:30 before formally starting at 7:00. A website is under development.