A multi-disciplinary search is on to hire a senior tenured Asian American studies professor at Princeton, reports the Daily Princetonian.
The job announcement posted earlier this month generated excitement among many working to build an Asian American Studies department on campus.
“This is a multidisciplinary search, which means that a lot of different departments have agreed to host an Asian-American studies scholar, and I think that’s really important and shows support from different fields in the University for building an Asian-American studies initiative,” said Beth Lew-Williams, an assistant professor of history who will be teaching an Asian American history course this spring.
Lew-Williams is new to Princeton, but explained the fight for Asian American studies on campus has been going on for decades. Currently she is one of just two professors on campus, the other is Anne Cheng, who currently teach Asian American courses at Princeton.
Students say they can feel the momentum building.
“Of course we hope the program develops sooner rather than later,” said Asian American Student Association president Evan Kratzer. “The important thing we’re concerned with, first of all, is making sure there’s a continuous supply of courses offered in Asian-American studies, and for this we need faculty,”
You can find out what the Princeton administration thinks about all this in the Daily Princetonian.
