AY 2007-2008 Projects - East Asia and Pacific

Country                       China
City                              Nanjing Jiangsu Province, East China
Host Institution           Nanjing University

Project Description
During the 2007-08 academic year, Nanjing University would like an EL Fellow to engage in 8-10 hours of undergraduate teaching each week, with a particular emphasis on writing and speaking, as well as to supervise student participation in language-related extracurricular activities such as drama performances, public speaking and debate. Nanjing University requests a Fellow who could offer inputs to ongoing curriculum development efforts and with particular expertise in technical writing and testing, two areas the English Department is planning to develop in the next year.

Project Objectives
Post's goals for an EL Fellow at Nanjing University are twofold. The first is to build on the longstanding cooperation between the U.S. and Nanjing University. Among other projects, they are the partner institution with Johns Hopkins University for the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies, which is partially funded by grants from USAID and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The second is that Nanjing is one of the first four American Presence Posts (APP) cities designated for China, which means that it is a focus for much of post's current and future public and transformational diplomacy programming and outreach efforts.

About the Host Institution
Nanjing University, founded in 1902, is a premier academic institution in an ancient city that served as China's seat of power for thousands of years. It is one of China's top comprehensive universities, located in the historic city of Nanjing, the former capital of Nationalist China, three hours northwest of Shanghai in Jiangsu Province. Nanjing University's English Department has a history dating back to 1917 as the English Section of Nanjing Higher Normal School, which was one of the earliest established English Departments in China. Current enrollment is around 500 students in BA and MA programs with 32 faculty members. The English Department is one of the top four in China, having been awarded Key Subject Faculty status by the central Ministry of Education. In addition to traditional teaching duties, the Nanjing University English Department is also a designated national English language testing center. As such, it attracts students from all around China. It is also home to the All China Association of American Literature, a national-level scholarly organization. They were a 2004 recipient of the 100-plus book Library of America collection, a resource that would be available to an EL Fellow for coursework and curriculum development. A high percentage of Nanjing University's English Department graduates go on to higher degrees and teaching careers in English language.