Hamilton’s largest class of Chinese Concentrators to date presented their senior project research at the Chinese Concentrators’ Conference on October 8 and 9. Seventeen members of the class of 2010 presented their research, all of which was done in Chinese. Eight additional students will be conducting research for their senior projects in the spring semester as well, putting the total number of Chinese concentrators at twenty-five. The presenters for the fall term included: Marcus Dormanen, Danielle Raulli, Chelsea Stone, Ebony Doyle, Michelle Fisher, Garvin Kiernan, Rebecca Ching, Hong Huynh, Alexander Jones, Oscar Lied, John Lofrese, Christina Magro, Yousuck Nahm, Andrew Rogan, William Stateman, Andrew Steele, and Teresa Ye, all of the class of 2010.
The Chinese concentration is a division of the East Asian Languages and Literatures department. It was started in 1999 and offers around 25 courses per year. A concentration in Chinese entails four years worth of language and cultural studies including courses in classical Chinese and Chinese film and literature. The department strongly encourages its concentrators and minors to spend at least one semester in China with Hamilton’s China program which is administered through Associated Colleges in China. Chinese concentrators are also required to research, write, and defend a thesis in Chinese. The Hamilton program is the only one among U.S. undergraduate Chinese programs which requires a Chinese thesis.
The goal of the Chinese concentration is for student to attain a standard of “professional proficiency” that will allow them to use the language “for real-world purposes in culturally appropriate ways.”
The Hamilton Chinese program is showing itself to be one of the fastest growing and most respected programs for undergraduate students. The class of 2009 saw only 15 concentrators as opposed to this year’s 25 and there are currently 29 students enrolled in first-year Chinese and 26 in second-year Chinese. Hamilton has been hosting and sponsoring the international conference on Technology and Chinese Language Teaching in the 21st Century (TCLT) since 2000. The next TCLT conference will be held at the Ohio State University on June 12-14, 2010.
