Luce Fund Seeks to Aid Asian Studies

The Henry Luce Foundation has started a four-year, $12-million effort to strengthen Asian studies at leading U.S. liberal-arts colleges.

The new Luce Fund for Asian Studies will underwrite 35 or more new full-time junior faculty positions to teach about east and southeast Asia. The fund will solicit proposals primarily from undergraduate colleges that award more than half of their baccalaureate degrees in the arts and sciences and have selective admission policies.

The fund intends to strengthen existing programs rather than to create new programs in Asian studies.

Each grant will cover the salary and benefits of a new junior professor for four years, and will include $10,000 a year for library materials, research projects, visiting lectureships, student internships, travel, or related expenses. Institutions that accept the grants must agree to continue to support the position after the grant expires.

“From its inception, the foundation has worked to enhance and expand America’s capacity to deal with the reality and complexity of Asia,” says Henry Luce III, the foundation’s chairman. “We hope that this new program will reinforce that commitment.”

For more information, contact the Henry Luce Foundation, 111 West 50th Street, Suite 4601, New York 10020; (212) 489-7700; fax (212) 581-9541; e-mail hlf@hluce.org.