News


Mon, 12/15/2025

#KUFieldWorks: Reassessing premodern Buddhist temples as sensory environments

Q&A with Maya Stiller, associate professor of Korean art and visual culture & director of undergraduate studies in the Kress Foundation Department of Art History
Wed, 12/10/2025

New book examines how educational reforms have attempted to fix past problems instead of inventing the future

In "Fix the Past or Invent the Future," education expert Yong Zhao explores how countless attempts and millions of dollars of investment have attempted to fix problems of the past in education instead of finding a new way forward for American schools, and more importantly, each individual.
Wed, 11/12/2025

‘Like I said’: Written feedback using metadiscourse language proves complicated

In a new study, University of Kansas researchers find an untapped area within the study of metadiscourse, aka “words used to organize a text.” The KU scholars reveal several problematic issues when implementing the two influential models of metadiscourse into the genre of written feedback. The findings were published in Research Methods in Applied Linguistics.
Thu, 10/30/2025

Beating with Tradition: KU Lion Dance Team Brings Culture to Life

A history of the KU Lion Dance team and the art of lion dance explained.
Wed, 10/15/2025

History of Japan’s signature beverage sake shared in new book

Eric Rath, professor of history at the University of Kansas, explores the evolution of Japanese sake from homebrew to flavored varieties, while tracing its cultural significance and global rise, in his new book, “Kanpai: The History of Sake.”
Fri, 10/10/2025

KU distinguished professor will emphasize community partnerships and civic engagement in inaugural lecture

Hyunjin Seo will draw from her interdisciplinary research and long-term collaborations with community partners during her inaugural distinguished professor lecture, “From Digital Literacy to Civic Engagement: University-Community Partnerships for Economic Mobility and Community Capacity Building.” The lecture will take place Nov. 4.
Fri, 08/29/2025

Democracies’ ‘de-risking’ strategies for trading with China compared in new study

In a new paper, Jack Zhang, assistant professor of political science at the University of Kansas, compares the “de-risking” strategies the U.S. and Japan employ by analyzing legislative measures to identify products considered a security risk when trading with China.
Wed, 08/06/2025

Student-curated exhibit explores centuries of knowledge and travel in and around Japan

KU Libraries will feature a new student-curated exhibition, “Travel, Tourism, and the Transmission of Knowledge in and Around Japan,” with an opening reception planned at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 3 in Kenneth Spencer Research Library's exhibit gallery.
Thu, 07/31/2025

Art historian brings to light Korean Buddhist temple design, decoration

A University of Kansas art historian’s new paper focuses on details of 18th-century Korean Buddhist temple design. Maya Stiller writes that like their contemporaries in Europe during Baroque or Rococo periods, Korean Buddhist artisan-monks believed that, when it came to worship structures, more is more, not less.
Wed, 07/16/2025

Two CEAS faculty recieve Big 12 Faculty Fellowships for 2025-2026

Six KU faculty members have been selected to participate in the Big 12 Faculty Fellowship over the summer and the upcoming academic year. These scholars will visit and collaborate with faculty and students across the Big 12 Conference.
Wed, 06/25/2025

Author follows Japanese bells under sea, around world in new book

Where does the triangular relationship among dragons, bells and water come from, and how has it been portrayed and explained through the centuries? Sherry Fowler, professor in the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas, explores those questions in “Buddhist Bells and Dragons: Under and Over Water, In and Out of Japan.”
Fri, 04/18/2025

US-China relations focus of KU’s Seventh Annual Intelligence & National Security Colloquium

A conversation between former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and longtime Wall Street Journal journalist Jerry Seib will open a University of Kansas conference April 30-May 1 that seeks to understand China’s long-term geopolitical objectives and how they affect U.S. national security.
Thu, 04/10/2025

KU students place at the Sixth Midwest Korean Speech Contest

The contest is one of the largest Korean language competitions in the region, aimed at promoting Korean language and culture among college students. The competition is open to students enrolled in a Korean language course at a Midwestern higher education institution.
Mon, 04/07/2025

Award-winning children's author Andrea Wang to visit Lawrence for LitFest 2025

The University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies and School of Education & Human Sciences will host Andrea Wang, author of the award-winning children’s book “Watercress,” at the annual CEAS Literature Festival (LitFest) on April 17.
Fri, 03/21/2025

Public invited to Korean Culture Day in Kansas

The Korean Culture Day in Kansas event on March 29 will showcase a diverse array of programs that blend traditional and contemporary Korean culture. The free event at the Kansas Union is open to the KU community and public.
Wed, 02/05/2025

Celebrate the Year of the Snake with the Center for East Asian Studies

The University of Kansas Center for East Asian Studies will celebrate the Year of the Snake for the Lunar New Year from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at the Kansas Union.
Tue, 01/28/2025

New book explores China’s Belt and Road Initiative from the ground level

A University of Kansas professor examines the material and social implications of infrastructure projects built with China’s help around the globe in a new book titled “New Silk Road: The Architecture of the Belt and Road Initiative.”
Thu, 01/23/2025

J. Megan Greene named associate vice provost for international and global engagement

J. Megan Greene, professor of history, has been named associate vice provost for international & global engagement at the University of Kansas. Her appointment became effective Jan. 1.
Thu, 12/12/2024

KU doctoral student wins competitive fellowship for international research

Carolisa Watson, doctoral student in geography at the University of Kansas, has earned the distinguished Dwight D. Eisenhower/Clifford Roberts Graduate Fellowship from the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College.
Tue, 11/19/2024

KU celebrates 2024 International Education Week

With more than 1,700 international students from 116 countries currently enrolled and over 1,000 students participating in experiences abroad, the University of Kansas has much to celebrate during International Education Week.
Fri, 10/25/2024

Reducing barriers nets Raj Bhala 2024 Shulenburger Award

Spurred on by a desire to increase affordability for students and to broaden access for international colleagues shut out by costly paywalls, Raj Bhala worked with a team at KU Libraries to openly publish his widely used textbook on international trade law. He is the recipients of the 2024 Shulenburger Award for Innovation & Advocacy in Scholarly Communication.
Tue, 10/08/2024

Center for East Asian Studies film series focuses on digital age

The Center for East Asian Studies' 2024-2025 programming, which focuses on the digital age, continues this week with the Digital Age Film Series in partnership with Lawrence Public Library. KU experts will lead a discussion after each film, beginning with a screening of "Pulse" (2001) on Oct. 9.
Wed, 09/11/2024

Study finds encouraging empathy makes students better at argumentation

Teaching argumentation is a key part of the common core standards in education. But a new study finds that encouraging empathy, instead of the traditional approach of winning, produces more well-rounded argumentation and writing in students.
Tue, 09/10/2024

Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with the KU Center for East Asian Studies

The KU Center for East Asian Studies and Student Union Activities will host the 2024 Mid-Autumn Festival from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Kansas Union.
Thu, 09/05/2024

KU receives new intelligence community funding, awards 34 new scholarships

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently awarded KU’s Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (IC CAE) program $300,000 in new funding for the 2024-25 academic year.  The funding will increase KU’s IC CAE award with a focus on expanding the study of China.
Mon, 08/26/2024

Study outlines how teachers can better help students by examining own identities during study abroad program

KU professors have led students on a study abroad program teaching English in Korean high schools. They recently published two studies about how the participants better connected with their students after examining their own identities.
Wed, 07/10/2024

Panasonic Energy and University of Kansas to collaborate on EV battery technology and talent development

Panasonic Energy and the University of Kansas today announced that they have signed an agreement aimed at promoting the development of next-generation technologies and the cultivation of specialist expertise in the field of lithium-ion batteries.
Fri, 05/10/2024

China’s ‘puzzling’ sanctions approach decoded using new data

Jack Zhang, assistant professor of political science, introduces both a new dataset on sanctions involving China and a research framework for expanding knowledge about non-Western economic sanctions more generally.
Tue, 04/23/2024

US-China vaccines collaboration leads to partisan distrust, study finds

In a new study, John James Kennedy, a professor of political science at the University of Kansas, examines the influence of international collaboration and vaccine developments.
Wed, 04/03/2024

KU Center for East Asian Studies to host Migration Symposium

Members of the KU community and the public are invited to attend the upcoming interdisciplinary symposium on migration organized by the KU Center for East Asian Studies. The free symposium will take place April 5-6.

Media Contacts

LaGretia Copp

Center for East Asian Studies

785-684-0307