Established in 1973, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at UW-Madison is a well-established Title VI National Resource Center, offering a variety of academic undergraduate and graduate programs. Located within the Institute for Regional and International Studies—a unit of the International Division—CSEAS provides K-14 outreach, local community collaboration, research opportunities, and more. In addition to federal grants, CSEAS has garnered significant external funding from prestigious organizations like the Mellon Foundation and Henry Luce Foundation. These funds support student research, study abroad, internships, language instruction, outreach activities, and faculty positions focused on social justice issues in Southeast Asian studies.
Academic opportunities
CSEAS curates a rich learning environment by leveraging courses across 15-20 departments, all applicable to its programs. These include an undergraduate certificate, a PhD minor, and an MA degree, along with support for the BA in Asian Studies offered by the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures (ALC). ALC, itself, offers instruction in five Southeast Asian languages, with three funded by CSEAS’s Title VI grant. CSEAS fosters strong relationships with International Studies and Asian American Studies programs, where faculty and students collaborate on initiatives such as promoting Southeast Asian American studies. Below are the academic opportunities offered:
- Undergraduate concentration: This is available as a “named option” in the undergraduate major offered by the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures (ALC).
- Undergraduate certificate: This undergraduate certificate is awarded to undergraduate students in any degree program other than Asian Studies (Southeast Asia Concentration). The program is intended to allow undergraduate students to document their advanced training on Southeast Asian Studies.
- PhD minor: This minor in Southeast Asian Studies is offered to doctoral students who are interested in documenting their knowledge of Southeast Asia in pursuit of their PhD degrees.
- Master of arts: This MA program, boasting over 160 graduates since 1991, meets the unique needs of two broad groups of students: those seeking certification of area expertise enroute to a disciplinary PhD and those seeking a terminal MA enroute to a wide range of careers in Southeast Asia, including government, business, journalism, and more.
Signature events and activities
CSEAS offers a variety of programs to broaden perspectives and cultivate intellectual growth, including:
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Outreach activities
Through a diverse range of outreach programs, CSEAS supports K-14 learning, fosters international collaboration, and reaches beyond the campus to provide enriched learning for all. Below are just a few of the ways CSEAS provides vital outreach to the community:
Local: Through the Wisconsin International Resource Consortium (WIRC), CSEAS collaborates with other area centers to provide local K-14 outreach activities, including their Professional Development Workshop Series. Some recent notable events have included a workshop to assist middle and high schools in meeting a new state mandate to teach on genocide, a climate optimism workshop for K-12 educators, and a curriculum development workshop for community college and K-12 educators that focused on the Southeast Asian refugee experience in Wisconsin.
Statewide: In collaboration with the Southeast Asian Language Council (SEALC), and with a five-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, CSEAS is working to professionalize the field of SE Asian language teaching by offering training workshops and materials development projects as well as creating national standards, proficiency assessments, and instructional resources. Additionally, CSEAS has collaborated closely with faculty of Madison College to develop and implement initiatives in Hmong and Hmong-American Studies at the community college level. This four-year initiative, funded by Title VI, will lead to the creation of a new Hmong Studies program at Madison College.
International: CSEAS’s commitment to international outreach is exemplified by the recent SEALC (Luce grant) workshop on Southeast Asian language teaching, held at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Fully funded by the Luce Foundation, this successful event brought together experts from across the region to share best practices and foster collaboration.
Fellowships and grants
CSEAS also provides a wide range of reputable fellowships and grants, including but not limited to:
- Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS): FLAS fellowships are funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the UW’s National Resource Centers to assist students in acquiring foreign language and either area or international studies competencies.
- CSEAS Fellowships: Center fellowships are awarded as 40% research assistantships or project assistantships and pay a modest living stipend, as well as provide health insurance and tuition remission. It is intended to support the study of Southeast Asia by graduate students in any department and is open to all students.
- CSEAS Field Research Grants: CSEAS also offers field research grants for pre-dissertation, dissertation, and thesis research on Southeast Asia. These awards are supported from the center’s endowment funds and are intended to provide limited support for field research and the acquisition of research-related materials. All graduate students are encouraged and assisted in their efforts to conduct field research in the region, and many are successful in the national competition for dissertation research grants.
Research
All affiliated faculty actively conduct major research projects in or on Southeast Asia and work closely with their undergraduate and graduate students with area interests. Graduate students affiliated with CSEAS are very competitive in acquiring funding for their research from various departments on campus, the Graduate School, CSEAS endowments (including Center Field Research Grants & Research Assistantships), and IRIS, as well as from external agencies like Fulbright, Wenner-Gren, Mellon, and other national and international funding sources.
Interested in learning more? Contact CSEAS below and follow them on their social media to stay up to date on the latest news and events!
Center for Southeast Asian Studies
207 Ingraham Hall
Email: seasia@seasia.wisc.edu
Phone: 608-263-1755
Address: 1155 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706
Web: seasia.wisc.edu
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