Dear BACS List subscribers,
Below I am forwarding a message from the Chair of the AAS China & Inner Asia Council about their Small Grants Awards programme. I know that many of you are AAS Members, and I apologize for cross-posting, but I thought this a cause worthy of support.
Regards,
Michel Hockx
BACS President
START OF FORWARDED MESSAGE
Dear China and Inner Asia Studies Colleague,
I am writing to you as Chair of the China and Inner Asia Council in an appeal for financial help for a program that is critical to the support of research in our field: the annual Small Grants Awards administered by our Council. (If you have already received this message, please forgive the duplication.) Please see the appended form for information on how you can help to make a big difference in the careers of fellow scholars who need our assistance. You may also go directly to the AAS website for donations to the CIAC Small Grants Awards fund at https://www.asian-studies.org/about/donate.htm#form.
Before joining the CIAC last year I didn’t know much about this fund. I now believe participating in the Small Grants Awards process is one of the most important tasks I have been involved in in my professional life. The awards are indeed small: $2,000 and sometimes even less to support research by advanced graduate students in completing their dissertations and by faculty for a wide array of projects. Most of the awardees are young (more than half of the awards are given to graduate students) and many of the faculty recipients have positions at colleges and universities where research funds are limited or nonexistent. These small grants provide, for example, an air ticket to a research site in China or the extra funds needed to make possible a workshop for graduate students on local archives, complete a vital translation project or create a digital archive. Receiving one of these grants brings welcome recognition by peers of one’s scholarly achievements. Time and again recipients have told us that our grants have made the difference between finishing a dissertation or other project on time and facing damaging and dispiriting delays to a promising career.
Our basic problem is that as things stand now we are far from able to meet fully the need for such support and recognition. At present we receive over one hundred applications per year and, unfortunately, can approve only about twenty. Most of the time taken in our annual CIAC gathering at the AAS convention is devoted to trying to figure out which few of many worthy projects proposed can be funded. There are always more than twenty that certainly deserve a “yes.” Indeed, a large number of truly outstanding proposals are unable to receive funding.
The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation has long been the mainstay of the Small Grants Awards program. The CCK Foundation in fact recently increased its contribution in response to the CIAC’s request for more help. However, the CCK Foundation’s signal generosity also served to remind Council members that we as AAS members in the China and Inner Asia field should be doing more ourselves. We cannot appeal effectively to any large donor unless we show that we as individual members value the Small Grants Awards program. As a result, the CIAC, with the approval of the AAS leadership, is making this appeal to establish an annual fund to increase the number of Small Grants Awards we are able to offer each year.
Please join us now in this effort by making a generous, (U.S.) tax-deductible contribution. My wife Ceceile and I have contributed $500 for this year and commit to budgeting $100 for each of the following five years. We obviously need participation from as many of us as possible in amounts large and small to generate sufficient funds to make a real difference. All of the money you contribute will go directly to Small Grants Award recipients.
We all have other institutional affiliations that demand financial contributions. But here is a unique opportunity to provide immediate help to colleagues in the “invisible university” of China and Inner Asia studies at a moment of need when budget cuts, job shortages, and employment insecurity threaten. Your financial contribution will give a much-needed and well-deserved hand-up to fellow scholars and will enable us to repay in some measure the moral and financial support we have each received at critical points in our own careers.
Sincerely yours
Dave Strand, 2012-13 Chair, CIAC
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RESPONSE FORM
The China and Inner Asia Small Grants Fund
Please make checks payable to the Association for Asian Studies, indicating in the memo section that the contribution is for the CIAC Small Grants Fund.
The Association for Asian Studies is a 501(c)(3) corporation and your contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Please mail contributions with a copy of this form to:
CIAC Small Grants Fund
Attn. Alicia Williams, Chief Financial Officer
Association for Asian Studies
825 Victors Way, Suite 310, Ann Arbor, MI 48108
______I am enclosing a contribution by check of:
$1,000 ______$500 _______ $250_____ $100______ Other $________
______I want to make a contribution by credit card of:
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To make a credit card donation, please go to our secure donate website: https://www.asian-studies.org/about/donate.htm#form or print this form and send the following information by mail to the AAS at the address above.
Type of credit card: American Express ____ MasterCard______ Visa_____
Account Number:________________________ Expiration Date:_________
Please provide the 3-digit security code found on the back of your credit card: ________
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Name: __________________________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________________
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______If your employer offers matching gifts for employee donations, please contact the appropriate office to determine the necessary steps. If a matching gift is expected, please let us know the employer’s name:
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Mailing address:
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Address: ________________________________________________________
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You are receiving this message as a current AAS member. AAS periodically sends out important announcements to its members. If you no longer wish to receive AAS e-mail announcements, please contact AAS Membership Manager, Doreen Ilozor, at [log in to unmask]
Association for Asian Studies
825 Victors Way, Suite 310
Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA
Tel: (734) 665-2490
Fax: (734) 665-3801
www.asian-studies.org
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