Pieter van Wingerden, a junior at CMC was named the winner of the Truman Scholarship. Van Wingerden studies government and Asian studies at CMC and is interested in political, economic, and military issues in Asia. He is CMC’s 20th Truman Scholar since Congress established the scholarship in 1975.
China has recently rebuffed attempts by the Biden administration to restart high level talks and lower tensions in Taiwan. Prof. Minxin Pei said it is possible that Beijing will re-engage with Washington once it feels it has more leverage. That could come after Beijing has deepened ties with more nonaligned countries like Brazil or after it has widened splits in Europe over how closely to follow the United States in its tougher stance toward China. “China wants to engage the U.S. from a position of strength, and China is clearly not in that position now.
Prof. Jeho Park been elected as the Vice President of the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA) for the 52nd term (2023-2024). The KSEA is one of the largest and oldest professional societies outside South Korea. Its mission is to provide and promote international cooperation, career development, and community service in science, technology, and entrepreneurship.
The Washington Examiner interviewed Prof. Jack Pitney about Gov. Ron DeSantis’s recent TV ad attacking Trump. “Here is the message: ‘Trump is stealing pages from the Biden-Pelosi playbook.’ Do the DeSantis people really think that they can convince Republicans that Trump is too much like Biden and Pelosi? That seems pretty unlikely.”
Prof. Henri Cole’s latest sonnet collection, “Gravity and Center” was reviewed in The New York Times.
“Each of Henri Cole’s sonnets is a little workshop of language,” the Times wrote. “Cole’s sonnet is a form both economical and maximal, which, through both artifice and resistance to artifice, feels and makes you feel, thinks and makes you think.”
Prof. Jack Pitney commented on a claim that the recent Nashville protest is comparable to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He stated that the two events in question were not the same due to the January 6 events involving “violence and death.”
In an interview with CNN, Prof. Esther Chung-Kim explained how a scene in Netflix’s new show Beef speaks to the Korean American Church experience, “One attractive feature about Asian American evangelicalism is that the focus is more on deemphasizing racial minority status and emphasizing more the primary identity as Christians. So this also explains some of the sociological benefits of joining ethnic-specific churches.”
Prof. Jack Pitney commented on the upcoming trial centered on former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll who is suing Donald Trump for battery. He explained that the case is unlikely to “change anything dramatically” in relation to elections, but it is “a meaningful small shift” that impacts our divided country.
