WSU News Archive

By Phyllis Shier, College of Arts and Sciences

PULLMAN, Wash. - Maintaining a global relationship with Asia-Pacific countries, particularly China and Japan, is critical to anyone doing business in an increasingly interdependent world economy. To help expand understanding about working within this new paradigm, Washington State University will present "Doing Business on the Pacific Rim,” a two-day symposium Feb. 15-16 on the Pullman campus. Events are free to WSU students and the public.

 

The symposium will include a keynote address by Sherman Cochran, Hu Shih professor of history at Cornell University and one of the leading Chinese historians in the United States, at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, in Todd 276. A round table discussion between experts on business and economic opportunities and challenges in the Pacific Rim will be at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, FEb. 16, in CUE 203. 

 

The symposium is funded through a U.S. Department of Education Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program (UISFLP) grant. Refreshments will be served after each event.

 

"It is a national priority for students to be able to understand Asian cultures and also to speak their languages,’’ said Christopher Lupke, associate professor of Chinese and grant principal investigator. "This symposium will give students a chance to learn about this very different culture that they will be dealing with in their futures and will increase the marketability of their degrees.”

 

Keynote speaker Cochran has taught and conducted scholarly work in Chinese business history at Cornell since 1973. In 2008 his book, "Chinese Medicine Men: Consumer Culture in China and Southeast Asia,” was awarded the Joseph Levenson Prize by the Association for Asian Studies for making "the greatest contribution to increasing understanding of the history, culture, society, politics or economy of China since 1900.”

 

Cochran’s lecture will focus on his current book project, which is based primarily on more than 2,000 letters exchanged by the Lius, a Chinese business family – father, mother and 12 children – between the 1920s and the 1950s. Drawing on these letters and quoting extensively from them, Cochran has completed a draft of a manuscript under the title "The Lius of Shanghai: A Chinese Family in Business, War and Revolution.”

 

Cochran maintains an avid interest in contemporary Chinese politics and has won multiple advising and teaching awards at Cornell.

 

Roundtable panelists will include Marie Anchordoguy, professor of East Asian studies in the Henry Jackson School at the University of Washington; Tom Roehl, professor of international business at Western Washington University; Richard "Pete” Suttmeier, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Oregon; and Charles Pezeshki, professor of mechanical engineering at WSU and director of the Industrial Design Clinic and the Global Engineering Clinic.

 

Kevin Randolph, executive director of the Harold Frank Engineering Entrepreneur Institute at WSU, will moderate the event.

 

"The panel brings a diverse set of experiences and perspectives that we hope will encourage a dialogue with attendees,’’ said Randolph. "We encourage anyone who is doing business, expects to do business or sees opportunity to build relationships in Asia to join us. They will come away with valuable information and an enhanced understanding of Asia.’’

 

The symposium is a joint effort between WSU’s College of Liberal Arts, the Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures, the College of Business, the College of Engineering and Architecture and International Programs.

 

"Initiatives within the $200,000 UISFLP grant support major cultural events like this one and seed funding for a new tenure-track position in Chinese, as well as curriculum development, library enhancement and support for faculty research,” said Lupke.

 

To register for these free events, go to: http://theliusofshanghai.eventbrite.com/ or http://pacificrimroundtable.eventbrite.com/

 

Phyllis Shier, College of Liberal Arts, 509-335-5671, peshier@wsu.edu
Tina Hilding, College of Engineering and Architecture, 509-335-5095, thilding@wsu.edu

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