University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. East Asian Languages and Cultures | University of Illinois Archives
<p class="main">In 1964, the Ford Foundation granted the University $800,000,<a href="#ftn1"><sup>1</sup></a> which funded the creation of the Center for Asian Studies within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.<a href="#ftn2"><sup>2</sup></a> Thereafter the College devised undergraduate and graduate minor programs in Asian languages and area studies.<a href="#ftn3"><sup>3</sup></a> In 1970 a master of arts program was established in Asian Studies<a href="#ftn4"><sup>4</sup></a> and in 1973 a field of concentration for undergraduates.<a href="#ftn5"><sup>5</sup></a> The Center for Asian Studies and seven other campus units in 1976 were incorporated into the School of Social Sciences,<a href="#ftn6"><sup>6</sup></a> which was dissolved in 1986.<a href="#ftn7"><sup>7</sup></a> After the Center's faculty, who specialized in western and southern Asia separated from the Center in 1985, it was renamed the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies to reflect the remaining faculty's research in "East and Southeast Asia and Oceania."<a href="#ftn8"><sup>8</sup></a> In 1988 the College replaced the term "field of concentration" with the more familiar "major" to describe an undergraduate's primary focus of study; this change affected all LAS units.<a href="#ftn9"><sup>9</sup></a> In 1990, the Trustees approved the building of an Area Studies Center and International Programs Building to house the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies and other interdisciplinary programs.<a href="#ftn10"><sup>10</sup></a>Â Upon completion of the building, the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies became an advanced research institute; in 1991, the tradition of instruction and research in the area studies and languages of East Asia was passed on to the College's newly incorporated Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.<a href="#ftn11"><sup>11</sup></a></p>
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<a name="ftn1">1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 52nd Report, January 15, 1964, p. 1011.</a>
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<a name="ftn2">2. Ibid., May 20, 1964, p. 1189.</a>
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<a name="ftn3">3. Board of Trustees Transactions, 53rd Report, February 16, 1966, pp. 1022-23.</a>
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<a name="ftn4">4. Board of Trustees Transactions, 56th Report, July 22, 1970, pp. 14-15.</a>
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<a name="ftn5">5. Board of Trustees Transactions, 57th Report, July 18, 1973, pp. 329-30</a>
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<a name="ftn6">6. Board of Trustees Transactions, 58th Report, February 18, 1976, p. 523.</a>
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<a name="ftn7">7. Board of Trustees Transactions, 63rd Report, April 10, 1986, p. 528.</a>
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<a name="ftn8">8. Ibid., February 21, 1985, p. 175.</a>
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<a name="ftn9">9. Board of Trustees Transactions, 65th Report, July 14, 1988, p. 24.</a>
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<a name="ftn10">10. Ibid., January 11, 1990, p. 439.</a>
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<a name="ftn11">11. Page one of the section one of the Minutes of the Trustees' Board Meeting on November 14, 1991 is the first and only official evidence found of the new Department. It appears first in the 1991-92 edition of Student/Staff Directory. Explanation of the Department's creation and secession from the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies provided by Ms. Janet Davis, Secretary of the Department, per a telephone call. She set September 1, 1991 as the founding date of the Department.</a>
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