ACTC Liberal Arts Institute Conference on

Global General Education and Asian Texts: What should students read?

at Concordia University—Irvine

Irvine, CA

Thursday, July 12, 2018 – Saturday, July 14, 2018

AGENDA

This conference has been made possible by the generous support of:

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Concordia University—Irvine, The Lilly Fellows Program, New York University Liberal Studies, Pepperdine University, and the Liberal Arts Institute of the Association for Core Texts and Courses

Thursday, July 12, 2018

5:00 PM:  Reception.  Atrium Hotel at Orange County Airport

6:00: Dinner.  Atrium Hotel.  Welcome: Kathleen Burk, Executive Director, ACTC; Jane Rodeheffer, President, ACTC; J. Scott Lee, Conference Organizer.

Plenary Address:  Prof. Cheng Chung Yi, former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy, of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, “Knowledges and Virtues: On Confucian Education and Its Modern Relevance.”

Friday, July 13

7:30-8:30 Breakfast at the Atrium Hotel, Irvine.  Transportation to Concordia campus.

9:00-10:15  Plenary Panel:  Suzhi, General, and Core Text Education in China.

               Pang Haishao, School of Humanities and Social Science , Beijing Institute of Technology,  Secretary-general of Chinese Association for Suzhi Education, “Suzhi Education and General Education in China.”  A. Reza Hoshmand, Director of General Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, “To Be or Not to Be an Integrative GE Curriculum: That is the Question for General Education at Hong Kong Baptist University.”  Li Jianzhong, Director of the General Education Center, Wuhan University, “Man: The Essential Keyword in General Education Texts of Wuhan University.”  Leung Mei Yee, Director of General Education and the Baldwin Cheng Research Centre for General Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, “Revitalize General Education through Reading Classics:  the Experiences in The Chinese University of Hong Kong.”

                              Chair: Kathleen Burk, Executive Director, ACTC

10:25-12:05 Breakout Sessions: 

Program Development with Asian and Western Texts.

Phillip R. Sloan, Notre Dame University, “Incorporating Eastern Classics into a Traditional Great Books Curriculum.”  Dong Bo, Boya College, Sun Yat-sen University, “Integrating Eastern and Western Classical Texts: the curriculum of Boya College.” Franklyn Wu, Dharma Realm Buddhist University, “The Making of Asian ‘Great Books’ Programs in the 21st Century.”  Brian Caton, Luther College, “Expertise, Anxiety, and the Adoption of Asian Texts in a First-Year Common Course.”

                              Chair:  Jane Kelley Rodeheffer, President ACTC, Professor Pepperdine University

Teaching Core Texts from the East and West around the World: Outreach, experiential learning and travel programs that make classics come alive.

Chen Xian, Yuelu Academy of Hunan University, “An Experiment in General and Liberal Education.”  Rachel E. Chung, Columbia University, “Pedagogical Issues in Teaching Mencius in Global Core Texts.”  Douglas Greenfield, Temple University, “Homer at the DMZ: Taking Core Texts on the (Silk) Road.”  Martha C. Franks, St. John’s College, Santa Fe, “Achilles and Chinese Students.”

                              Chair:  Julie Chieu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

12:20-1:15 Lunch on Campus

1:15- 2:05 Plenary Address, Lilly Sponsored Speaker:  Jennifer Prough, Interim Dean, Christ College, Valparaiso University, “Twenty-Five years of Asian Core Texts: challenges and rewards.”

2:25-4:05 Breakout sessions:

Science, Christianity, Daoism:  Reading Texts through Traditions

Andrew J. Dell’Olio, Hope College, “Reading the Daodejing in a Christian College.”  Wai Man Szeto, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, “Understanding Traditional Chinese Medicine through Huangdi Neijing.”  Jack Chun, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, “Daodejing as a Core Text in the World Great Books Program.”

                              Chair:  Phillip R. Sloan, Notre Dame University

4.  Cross-cultural Arts and Artworks

               Chris Santiago, University of St. Thomas, Tentative Title, “Silence in Ovid, Virgil, Hearn, and Mizuki: Tales and Film.”  David S. Hogsette, Grove City College, “Exploring Classical Thought and Culture in East and West: Teaching Hamlet and The Banquet in the Civilization and Literature Humanities Core.”  John Ruff, Valparaiso University, “Matsuo Basho and Basho Reborn: On MinidokaXX: Takuichi Fujii’s ‘Narrow Road to the Interior’.”

                              Chair:  Richard Kamber, The College of New Jersey

5.  Close Human Relationships in Asian (and Other) Texts

Page Laws, Norfolk State University, “’Thank Heaven for Little Girls’?  Fathers Marrying their Adopted Daughters” in Murasaki Shibiku’s The Tale of Genjii, the musical film Daddy Long Legs    (1955), and the musical film Gigi (1958).  Tuan Hoang, Pepperdine University, “Not Lovers But Friends: The Final Decision in The Tale of Kieu.”   Yaqun Zhang, Xiamen University, “The Modern Value of Traditional Family Instructions.”

                              Chair: Wai Ming Ho, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

4:30:  Return to Atrium Hotel

Dinner: participants will find their restaurant of choice at which to eat.  A list and description of restaurants in the nearby area will be provided.

Saturday, July 14

7:30-8:30:  Breakfast at the Atrium Hotel.  Transportation to campus provided.

9:00-10:15 Plenary panel:  New York University’s Program of Liberal Studies.   Three panelists from the program make the case that a Global Core Text program, for a core curriculum and for a major.   Panel organizer, Peter Diamond, Associate Dean, Program of Liberal Studies Peter Diamond will preface the panel with a brief explanation of why Liberal Studies at NYU is a global program.

               Peter Diamond, “Should Character Count?  A Confucian Meditation on Modern Democracy.”  Jeannine Chandler, “Dusting Off The Analects and Putting Confucius to Use: Teaching Chinese History through Role-playing Games.”  Nancy M. Reale, “Tang Xianzu’s Peony Pavilion in the Freshman Humanities Course.”

                              Chair:  Peter Diamond

10:25-12:05 Breakout sessions:

6.  Ethics, Poetry, and Human Questions: Reaching out of the Western Tradition towards the East.

Emma Cohen de Lara, Amsterdam University College, “Can Augustine’s Confessions Be a Part of an Asian Core Curriculum?”  Miquel Solans, University of Navarra, “Poetry and Dialectic Platonic Approach to the Use of Literary Works in Education.”  Richard Kamber, The College of New Jersey, “Why Empirical Ethics Cannot Set the Limits of Cultural Respect.”

                              Chair:  Douglass Greenfield, Temple University

7.  Religion and Texts: Talking Across Barriers

               Shuhui Su, Grove City College, “Infusing Language Learning with Chinese Philosophy.”  Kristen Waha, Grove City College, “Reinventing Sita: Reading the Ramayana across India and Southeast Asia.”  Joshua Parens, University of Dallas, Tentative Title, “Teaching The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti in a Philosophy of Religion Course at a Catholic University.”  James Jinhong Kim, New Brunswick Theological University at Rutgers University, “Mencius as a Pedagogical Tool in Inter-religious Dialogue.”

                              Chair:  Tuan Hoang, Pepperdine University

12:20- 1:15 Lunch on Campus

1:35 – 2:55 Breakout session: 

8. Student Questions and Projects from an Asian Perspective

Yang Yeung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, “Yearning for Learning? A preliminary review of student-generated questions on The Analects.”  Nicol F. C. Pan, University of Hong Kong, “Virtual Reality in Hong Kong: Texts for Critical Inquiry in Science, Technology, and the Humanities.”  Shari Epstein, Dharma Realm Buddhist University, “A Mencius Lab: Incorporating Contemplative Exercises in the Study of Chinese Core Texts.”  Jane Rodeheffer, Pepperdine University, Tentative title, “Brushing a Character: Wisdom and the Tao Te Ching.”

                              Chair:  Rachel E. Chung, Columbia University

Cultural and National Conditions for Core Texts

Xie Yifeng, Yuelu Academy at Hunan University, “What is China?  Shiji and the Understanding of China in the Han Dynasty (B.C.E. 202 – C.E. 220).”  Wai Ming Ho, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, “Feudalism in the Zhou Dynasty and Confucius.”  Bernardo A. Michael, Messiah College, “Teaching the Nation from its Borderlands: The Tharu Barka Naach.”  Rochelle Almeida, New York University, “Exploring Ghandhism in Global Education through a Study of Primary Texts.”

                              Chair: Joseph Knippenburg, Oglethorpe University

3:15-4:40

10.   Asian Core Texts:  Reasons for Reading and Including Them in General Education or Core Programs.

        Julie Chieu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, “The Heart Sutra as a Global Core Text.”  J. Casey Hammond, Singapore University of Technology and Design, “The Analects as a World Text.”  George Baroud, New York University, “Teaching Chinese and Roman Exemplary Ethics: Situation Ethics, Confucius, and Valerius Maximus.”  Steven Day, Benedictine University, “Rereading Lu Xun’s (Lu Hsün) ‘Diary of a Madman’ on the Centenary of Its Publication.”

                              Chair:  Page Laws, Norfolk State University

Buddhist Concepts of Society, Human Relationships, and Textual Interpretation at Buddhist Colleges

               Frank Hoffman, International Buddhist Studies College, Mahaculalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Tentative Title, “Birth, Rebirth, Karma.”  Stacy Chen, Dharma Realm Buddhist University, “Interpreting Buddhist Classics – the Making of a Course in Buddhist Hermeneutics.”

                              Chair: Frankly Wu, Dharma Realm Buddhist University

4:55-5:25  Review of Conference, Discussion of Next Steps, Suggestions Taken for Future Liberal Arts Institute projects.

                              Kathleen Burk, ACTC Executive Director

Closing Reception 5:30-6:15 PM

Dinner: participants will find their restaurant of choice at which to eat.  A list and description of restaurants in the nearby area will be provided.