May 17, 2006 :: No. 246

Four Cal State Fullerton faculty members will be presenting papers at the International Conference on Asian American Literature in Beijing later this month.

The CSUF presenters are: Mary Kay Crouch and Heping Zhao, associate professors of English, comparative literature and linguistics; Eric E. Reyes, assistant professor of Asian American studies; and librarian Jie Tian, who also teaches library resource classes.

The Beijing Foreign Studies University and St. Thomas University in Florida are sponsoring the May 27-30 conference. Topics that will be covered at the conference include connections between the East and West, Chinese and Asian Diasporas, Asian immigration, bilingualism and colonialism.

Tian will deliver a talk titled “Women of Two Cultures: On Pearl S. Buck’s Chinese O-lan and American Carrie” on May 27. The Brea resident said she will focus on Buck — the late author of scores of books, including “The Good Earth,” and winner of the Nobel Prize — and her message of compassion for all humankind.

Zhao of Garden Grove, Crouch of Fountain Valley and Reyes of Long Beach will speak on May 28. Zhao’s lecture is titled “All Dressed Up But Nowhere To Go: Ha Jin’s ‘Waiting’ as a Universal Experience.” Crouch’s presentation is “Teaching the War in Vietnam to Children Who Never Knew It,” and Reyes’ talk is “Shaping Social Space in Filipino American Literary Texts.”

Crouch, who will be heading to Vietnam after the conference, said her lecture deals with literature about the Vietnam War and how her CSUF English students’ views change about the war, based on the literature they read about it in class. While in Ho Chi Minh City in early June, Crouch will conduct workshops for the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization.

Besides participating in the conference, Tian also will be buying $6,000 worth of Chinese books, DVDs and other materials to enhance the collection of the Cal State Fullerton Pollak Library. The funding is from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences dean, who is preparing to propose the university offer a minor in Chinese language.

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