Introduction to the UCLA Taiwan Studies Program
In this edition, we are introducing UCLA’s Taiwan Studies Program and its co-founder, Prof. Shih Shu-mei. Our editor was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with Prof. Shih and hear the story of how UCLA’s Taiwan Studies Program was first envisioned and has become what it is today.
Looking up the coast from UCLA to the University of California, Santa Barbara, Prof. Shih Shu-mei said that she was always envious of the Taiwan Studies Center that had been set up there in 2003, and all that that center enabled UCSB to do with regard to Taiwan Studies. With that as a reference, she envisioned having a Taiwan Studies Center at UCLA and began working on plans to establish one, talking with the Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in L.A. and collaborating with a fellow Taiwanese scholar at UCLA, Prof. Frank Chang, to draft a proposal document in 2012/13 for a full Taiwan studies center at UCLA. While setting the bar high, the immediate obstacle was funding, as the pair figured that USD$2-3m was needed to establish a center, something which the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in L.A. couldn’t provide. Their advice was for Prof. Shih to first apply for a Taiwan lectureship, funding to support short-term or one off teaching/events related to Taiwan. However, Prof. Shih and Prof. Chang’s goal was to start something that would be sustainable. The short-term nature of lectureship funding didn’t align with what the scholars were really pushing for and this eventually led to a pause in their efforts.
Putting the UCLA Taiwan Studies Center project to one side, Prof. Shih took an endowed chair at the University of Hong Kong and Prof. Chang went to become chancellor of Chiao-Tung University in Hsinchu.
Prof. Shih’s return to UCLA in 2016 coincided with the return of Prof. Min Zhou, a dynamic Asian Americanist scholar who had spent three years as Tan Lark Sye Chair Professor, Head of Sociology Division, and Director of the Chinese Heritage Centre at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. When Prof. Zhou came back to UCLA, she was asked to take on the role of director at the Asia Pacific Center (APC), upon which she and Prof. Shih reopened the idea of a Taiwan studies center (beginning with a Taiwan Studies Program under the umbrella of the Asia Pacific Center), with Prof. Zhou beginning a fundraising drive, looking to both government and private organizations, and Prof. Shih pioneering a new and significant partnership for UCLA with NTNU.
In 2017, through conversations with NTNU’s Prof. Nikky Lin and President Wu, the UCLA-NTNU Taiwan Studies Initiative was created. This was an agreement that provided funding for and could facilitate graduate student exchanges, faculty exchanges, conferences, funding for fieldwork, and fellowships for UCLA students to go to NTNU (and vice versa), as well as publications that come from a joint annual conference that the two institutions now hold.
In the meantime, Prof. Min Zhou secured funding from the J Young foundation in the U.S., USD$1m for endowment and USD$1m to recruit Taiwanese students to go to UCLA.
The funding from the J Young Foundation and the partnership with NTNU were two major steps forward for Taiwan studies at UCLA and worked to elevate what the Taiwan studies Program was able to achieve. More funding was also procured from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to create a “Taiwan in the World” postdoctoral fellowship program, which has further boosted the breath, depth, and strength of the program.
While the UCLA Taiwan Studies Program continues to grow and Prof. Shih’s dream of establishing a full Taiwan studies Center continues to get closer, one of the unique aspects of the UCLA program that Prof. Shih was keen to highlight was the connection with NTNU and the exchanges that have been a part of that partnership since the first agreement was signed in 2017. Every year, NTNU will send three scholars to present at the UCLA Taiwan Studies Program conference and Prof. Shih regularly comes to NTNU to teach a summer module. Students, graduates and researchers are also given opportunity and funding to carry out exchange visits or research visits, creating a constant stream of knowledge and expertise between the two institutions that is mutually beneficial and serves to keep UCLA on the pulse of whatever is happening in Taiwan. The Spinger ‘Sinophone and Taiwan Studies’ book series has been another key part of this partnership, with seven books published since 2020 and more on the way. Prof. Dafydd Fell has previously cautioned of the danger of Taiwan researchers who are based abroad gradually losing touch with what is happening on the ground in Taiwan, but this exchange program helps to ensure that the UCLA Taiwan Studies Program stays up to date with the most recent trends and developments in Taiwan through the constant stream of person to person exchange with NTNU. This creates a dynamism that keeps both universities on the cutting edge of Taiwan studies research.
Despite wanting to start out with an endowment and a Taiwan studies center, Prof. Shih now points to the value of expanding incrementally and encourages other institutions not to look down on small beginnings. Having gone from the Taiwan lectureship (which UCLA colleagues actually applied for in Prof. Shih’s absence), to gradually increasing the number of Taiwan-themed events and talks, then establishing a partnership with NTNU, the result has been a maturing of UCLA’s position as a significant hub of Taiwan studies in the USA. This has provided them with evidence to show future sources of funding that investing in their program can achieve good results. The endowment that has enabled the establishment of the Taiwan Studies Program has been a natural step forward, and there is hope that it won’t be long before a full Taiwan studies center will come into being.
Interestingly, the seeds of that plan from all the way back in 2012/13, when Prof. Shih and Prof. Chang first sketched out their vision for a Taiwan Studies Center at UCLA and its funding, seem to have taken root in Taiwan. Today, Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council offers an Endowed Chair for Taiwan studies that universities worldwide are able to apply for, giving a significant boost to the development and sustainability of the field.
Having introduced the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies in the first issue and the UCLA Taiwan Studies Program in this issue, we hope these stories can serve as inspiration for those who are looking to grow or even establish new Taiwan studies programs at other universities. It is definitely a field in which there is much room for creativity and diversity and we hope to continue telling these diverse stories over the coming months and years.