UW to launch Asian language institute next summer

A national consortium will locate a unique language-teaching institute at UW–Madison beginning in summer 2000.

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies will host the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) for five years initially, with the goal being to keep the institute at UW–Madison permanently.

Plans call for teaching Hmong, Burmese, Vietnamese, Javanese, Thai, Khmer, Lao and Tagalog on three instructional levels. In addition to the language instruction, the summer institute also will offer area studies courses, lectures and arts events open to the public.

Michael Cullinane, associate director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, was instrumental in bringing the center to Madison.

“Not only does SEASSI offer the best instruction for students across the country, but it also gives an interdisciplinary group of scholars a greater sense of community. Our faculty will get the chance to interact with some of best scholars of the next generation,” Cullinane says.

One important initiative will develop new teaching materials for Hmong, Khmer and Lao, Cullinane says. “No other university or institute offers instruction in these languages, and there are few textbooks and supplementary materials in existence for them. SEASSI is the ideal laboratory for pilot-testing new teaching materials,” he says.

A $280,000 grant from the Luce Foundation will fund the teaching initiatives. The United States Department of Education, SEASSI member institutions, the Fulbright Scholars program and student fees will support the summer institute. For more information, contact Mary Jo Studenberg, (608) 263-1755.