Admissions

Lake Forest, Ill. – Students David Esturain '09, Ryan Glowacz '10, Caitlin Smith '12, Ian Tinley '10, and Kylie Trotman '09, along with Associate Professor of History Shiwei Chen, were recently issued a $31,000 grant by the ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Program to conduct field research in China about the nation’s rapidly changing economy and society.

The group was among 13 selected from nearly 35 applications, and Lake Forest College was one of two schools to receive the grant for a second time in this year's competition.

"This fellowship grant is a great accomplishment for everyone in the group," says Esturain.

The group's proposal, titled "China Through Student’s Eyes: Three Case Studies of China’s Economic and Educational Development," will have the team conduct interviews, observe business activities, collect materials, and hold roundtable discussions at three different sites: an auto-parts manufacturer, a rural commune that embodies collectivization, and one of the country’s top private higher-education institutions. The grant will cover round-trip airfare and lodging for the three-week trip.

In the conclusion of their proposal, Chen's team projects that their investigative work will, “aim to understand not only the unique pattern of development that China is pursuing, but also to recognize the challenges of income inequality, diminishing state capacity, uneasy relations with the U.S., the global business revolution, and the future role of the Chinese Communist Party with which China’s leadership is faced in the 21st century.”

With the support of the Freeman Foundation, ASIANetwork, a consortium working to strengthen the role of Asian Students at its over 170 member liberal arts colleges, offers the Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows Program. The program, started in 1998, makes it possible for teams of faculty mentors and student researchers to conduct research throughout East and Southeast Asia. As of the end of summer 2008, a total of 119 grants had been given out to almost 500 “Student-Faculty Fellows.”

Chen received the first grant in 2001, when he led a group of students to study "The Convergence of Socialism and Capitalism in Urban China."

Lake Forest College is a national liberal arts institution located 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. The College has 1,400 students representing 45 states and 69 countries.

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Will Pittinos '06
847-735-6177
pittinos@lakeforest.edu