The Center for Asian Studies has received a grant from U. S. Department of Education's Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages (UISFL) program for AYs 20-23. This page will be updated as the new program comes into focus. Please contact us at cas@colorado.edu for more information.


THS Scholarship for Study Abroad, Language Study, and/or Independent Research


Preserving culture by learning an endangered language


CU Boulder Tibetan Losar 2023 Celebration— A Big Hit


Announcing a new certificate in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies at CU Boulder

The Center for Asian Studies is excited to announce that CU Boulder students who are interested in learning about the Tibet and Himalayan region are now able to pursue a certificate in Tibetan and Himalayan studies. Culturally and ethnically Tibetan areas constitute ¼ of the land area of the People’s Republic of China -- roughly the size of Western Europe -- as well as the country of Bhutan and parts of north India, Nepal, and Pakistan. As a focus of tension between the two Asian superpowers of India and China, this region is geopolitically crucial. The region is known as “the Third Pole'' and home to the headwaters of seven of Asia’s major rivers. It is a hotspot for global climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services. 

CU Boulder is a leading center of research, teaching, and scholarship on Tibetan and Himalayan Studies, as well as environmental sciences, including climatology, hydrology, ecology, and geology.  Expertise on the region includes strong faculty leadership in the departments of Anthropology, Geography, and Religious Studies and the Tibet Himalaya Initiative (THI), a multidisciplinary hub for research, teaching, and public engagement on Tibet and the greater Himalaya region housed within the Center for Asian Studies. The town of Boulder, CO itself is a significant location in the history and spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

Find details here.


Congratulations to Tenzin Tsepak!

Tenzin Tsepak

We would like to thank Tenzin Tsepak, our Tibetan and Himalayan Studies Instructor for the last two and a half years, for successfully promoting our new Certificate in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies. His position was funded by a grant from the US Department of Education. Tsepak completed his PhD in Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University and is now moving on to a post-doc at Leiden University. Congratulations Tsepak!

Welcome Dan Hirshberg!

Dan Hirshberg

Dan will be taking over for Tsepak this spring, teaching courses in Tibetan Language and Tibetan Civilization. Dan did his PhD in Tibetan Studies at Harvard University and was an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Mary Washington for a number of years before moving back to Boulder. His first book Remembering the Lotus-Born: Padmasambhava in the History of Tibet’s Golden Age (Wisdom Publications, 2016), won Honorable Mention for the E. Gene Smith Book Prize from the Association for Asian Studies.

Check out our great new courses!

A&S Magazine - With new scholar, center launches Tibetan and Himalayan certificate


Below you will find information about grant-funded Tibetan and Himilayan-related courses and programming, as well as ongoing courses on the region. If you know of anything we should add to this resource, please email cas@colorado.edu

We will update this site as new developments arise, so keep checking back!