ALUMNI UPDATES
Tony Cino (1996)
wrote Professor Jin reporting that he will do some traveling in Korea and
China this summer, then spend 6 weeks studying Mandarin with CET at the Hopkins
Nanjing Center where he says that he hopes to "bring my literacy back
up to a functional level, increase my vocabulary and improve and reinforce
my fluency with the advanced grammar structures I learned while at ACC."
He will then begin a master’s program in the fall at Columbia’s
School for International and Public Affairs. He was accepted into a
number of fine programs, but was most impressed with what SIPA could offer
him. He is excited about returning to school and about his future career
in International Affairs.
Richard Tse
(1997) currently works in Hong Kong (almost 3 years now) as a manager at a
trading company. His new e-mail info can be found on the insert.
Valerie Pease
(Pei Wan, 1997) contacted Professor Jin to report that she is
currently teaching English to high school and junior high students in Huangang
in the Hubei province. Valerie mentions that anyone interested in teaching
in China should feel free to contact her.
Joshua Jenkins
(1997) is living in Manchester, NH working for the Brita company.
He hopes to begin a graduate program in engineering in the fall at the University
of New Hampshire.
Kathryn Pitarys
(Li Xiao Xing, summer/fall 1997) is living in San Francisco with fellow ACC
alum Denys Lai (Lai Jing Cong). They traveled to Hong
Kong and Thailand this past January, but unfortunately have not yet made it
back to Beijing. Denys is a management consultant at BTS consulting
and plays a lot of golf. Kathryn recently left her position as a marketing
associate at NEC Systems and started as a program manager for the California-Asia
Business Council. Cal-Asia runs educational and networking programs
targeted towards those interested in promoting trade between Asia and California.
Most recently, she worked with the local Asian consular community, including
members of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, to organize Cal-Asia's
8th Annual Asia night, which is focused on celebrating Asian cultures
and promoting business with Southeast Asia and China. She is also finishing
up her Marketing Certificate at UC Berkeley. She encourages anyone interested
in Cal-Asia’s programs to contact her.
Carol Bennett
(Bei Kai Rong, summer/fall 1998) is currently finishing her
first of three years at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for an M.S. in Interior
Design. She is looking forward to returning to Beijing in mid-May for
a quick week of travel.
Chian Wu
(summer/fall 1999) has moved a few times but reports that she now has a stable
mailing address in CA. She will be traveling in China beginning June
4 for a few months. If anyone plans to be in Beijing or China during
that time, she would love to meet up.
Jessica Mintz
(Mengci,
1999) has received a fellowship to attend the newspaper program at NYU's School
of Journalism in the fall. She's also planning on connecting with a
tutor there so that she can keep up with her Chinese.
Kristina Johnson
(2000) will be graduating from Smith in May and has gotten a position next
year at the Federal Reserve in its International Economic Research Division.
She reports that the FED is starting to work on economic research for China
- something it has never done before - and she was hired to help launch the
new research. She's very excited to be working in the field and to have
the opportunity to use the language skills she acquired at ACC. Kristina
was also accepted to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for 2002-2003, but declined
the offer to take the job with the FED. She plans to reapply later and
continue her studies in China.
Andrew Siegfried
(2000) continues to teach in China. His new e-mail address
is listed on the insert.
Ji Sun Han
(summer/fall 2000) will be in China from October 2002 to October 2003 teaching
English with a program called English First. She hasn't yet been placed
at a school, but can still be contacted through her Smith e-mail address.
Carl Polley
(2000) is now working at CUEB teaching English, and is seriously
considering staying in Beijing for a few years before going back to the states
for law school. Eventually, he hopes to get a job doing editing or proofreading
of translations in the business world in China, but until then, "teaching
English makes ends meet." For any ACC grads looking for work in
Beijing, Carl knows of a newly opened school there, the Beijing Mei-De Creative
Training School, which is looking for native-English speakers to teach English.
Their two American teachers so far (Carl and Max Bohnenkamp) are both
ACC alums. See last page of newsletter for details
Adam Frost (2000)
has been accepted into the Hopkins-Nanjing program and will begin in the fall
of 2002.
Julie Wilensky
(2000) will also be attending the Hopkins-Nanjing program in the
fall. She graduates from Yale this month.
Sarah Baumann
(2000)
will graduate from Hamilton in May and then move on to Los Angeles, where
she hopes to pursue a career in the film industry.
Tanya Wansom
(2000)
will graduate from Swarthmore this May with an honors major in
Chinese Studies, a course major in biology, and an honors minor in sociology/anthropology.
Next year, she will be a Fulbright Scholar in Thailand, where she will be
doing HIV/AIDS work and attempting to start reproductive health workshops
among college women in Bangkok. She is also in the process of applying
to MD/PhD programs in health policy.
Matt Goosen
(2000)
graduates from Hamilton College in May and will begin the Hopkins-Nanjing
program in the summer and stay on through the academic year.
Kelly Riddell (2000) will also graduate from Hamilton in May and then
begin the Hopkins-Nanjing program in the fall.
Manfred Elfstrom
(spring 2001) has spent the past year finishing up his two majors, History
and Studio Art, and for the past month has been putting together his senior
art show, which involved some 8-foot paintings based on sketches and photos
he took while in China with ACC. In August, he will return to China
for one to two years to teach English at an agricultural university in Taigu
(6 hours west of Beijing) and study labor relations. He would love to
catch up with any other ACC alums that might be in China.
Nicole Caporusso
(spring 2001) graduates from Hamilton in May, and in June will
begin teaching at Ballet Academy East in NYC. In September, she'll begin
dancing with Vanessa Paige Dance, a modern dance company also in NYC.
She plans on continuing her studies in Chinese language while in the city.
Sandra Kister
(spring 2001) graduates from Yale in May and will be returning
to China to work at a Chinese investment bank (China International Capital
Corporation) for two years. She has also been printing photos that she
took in China last summer and will be having a small photo show over a weekend
in May.
Chase Pettus
(spring 2001) hopes to be back in China by September of 2003 to study for
a longer period of time, perhaps 2 or 3 years. He's currently living
in Arkansas after graduating from the University of Kansas.
Vanessa Brigham
(spring 2001) has received her MA degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures
from the University of Kansas and is currently in the midst of the job search
(with what look like some good prospects on the horizon).
Emily Merchant
(spring
2001) will graduate from Hamilton in May, and then begin a PhD program in
Pharmacology at Tufts University in the fall.
Hye-Mi Ahn
(spring 2001) graduates from Hamilton in May, and in the fall will begin work
toward a master's degree in general psychology at New York University.
Lei Chen Wong
(spring 2001) will be teaching English in Japan with a program
called JET. She'll be there at least one year, but hasn't yet been informed
as to exactly where in Japan she'll be situated.
Allie Yang
(Liang Zheng Er, spring 2001) will return to China next year as a research
fellow at Fudan University in Shanghai. She'll be doing independent
research on the topic of "The Role of Women's Groups in the Development
of Civil Society in China." She hopes to get in contact with other
ACC alums in China so a good support network can be built - "without
the language pledge this time!" She will also be biking from New
Haven, CT to Seattle, WA this summer as a Habitat for Humanity bike rider,
so "anyone who lives anywhere along our route (Chase!!), please come
and support us!" You can check the website www.yale.edu/habitat for more info on the
route, or to donate money.
Jean-Michel
Wan-Min-Kee (spring/summer 2001) continued studying Chinese in
China post-ACC until just before the Christmas holidays. He is currently
in Boston awaiting his fiancée's graduation, after which they will
be getting married in July at two ceremonies at their homes in Mauritius and
Taipei. He will return to work in Hong Kong in October after traveling
and holidays. He looks forward to keeping in touch with others from
the program, and promises to write soon (in Chinese!) once his life settles
down.
Patrick Brown
(summers 2000 and 2001) will be studying with the Hopkins-Nanjing program
for the 2002-2003 academic year. After that, things are “up in the air.”
Dan Eng (summer
2001) will attend CET's Harbin program this summer to work on his Chinese
and to research Buddhist practices there for his senior thesis. Dan
was recently awarded a big grant from Harvard to support his study.
Allison Robbins
(summer 2001) will graduate from Bowdoin in May as a music major and Asian
studies minor, then will move to Bozeman, Montana for a year or so while she
applies to grad schools and takes some time off. She plans on going
to school for musicology or ethnomusicology.
This summer, Ziad
Haider (summer 2001) will be working as an investment banking analyst
in Merrill Lynch’s Global Health Care group. In August, he will
be traveling to Xinjiang, China to work in an AIDS prevention clinic and do
some independent research. He hopes to be able to brush up on his Chinese,
which he reports has "deteriorated after the summer."
Destiny Duron
(summer 2001) will return to China (Qing Dao) this summer for an internship
in a business enterprise there. Since she left ACC, she has been working
hard to get a scholarship that would allow her to finish college at SMU.
In February, she was awarded the Presidential Scholarship. She is thrilled
that she will be able to continue her study of Chinese.
Andy Harrison
(summer/fall 2001) will graduate from Oberlin in May, then after three weeks
off will start his job working as an International Trade Specialist in the
International Trade Administration, which is a section of the Department of
Commerce. He is assigned to the Office of the China Economic Area and
will be working on China’s implementation of its WTO accession accords,
as well as doing business liaison work. He reports that he “couldn’t
have asked for a better first job!” Please note his new e-mail
address on the list.
Lori Ho
(He Chang Yi, summer/fall 2001) is currently on the Hamilton
in NYC program interning at Treasury Strategies, and has just been hired to
stay on for the summer. Lori was recently awarded a grant from the Asian
Studies department at Hamilton to do a collaborative student/faculty research
project with Professor Cheng Li. Her topic will focus on the increasing
gap between the countryside and the city in China. She will travel to
China in mid-August to conduct the second part of her research. Lori
looks forward to hearing other alumni news.
Elaine Moy
(MeiYiJia, summer/fall 2001) writes, "Unfortunately, I'm
not returning to China this coming summer, or using my Chinese in my summer
internship." This summer she will return to Seattle and work part
-time at an internship with Child Protective Services. She reports that
she had a Chinese class this spring with SiMaGaiYong (summer 2001) and BaiZhiMo
(summer/fall 2001) and also that she got a job with the Brandeis Women’s
Studies Research Center working with an investigative reporter who is trying
to put together an anthology for people who are considering adopting older
Chinese children. She really enjoyed the way that this tied into her
ACC independent research project about Chinese orphans.
Riley Lipschitz
(summer/fall
2001) writes that her post-ACC experience has been great, and
that, "perhaps the ACC inspired work ethic greatly influenced my college
experience!" This summer, she is leading backpacking trips through
a company called Wilderness Ventures ("alas, no Chinese for me.")
She has maintained her Chinese studies and plans to write her senior these
on the prospects for a Chinese civil society.
Katherine Kwan(summer/fall
2001) spent her post-ACC time (January through April) studying in Hikone,
Japan with the Japan Center for Michigan Universities. She reports that
it was a terrific experience.
Erin Hoppin
(He Rui, summer/fall 2001) will spend the summer co-leading
a six-week trip for high school students along the Silk Road in China with
a company called Where There Be Dragons. The students begin their travels
in Beijing, then travel to Kashgar, hike in the Karakorum range of the Himalayas,
then make their way on to Urumqi, Turpan, Dunhuang, Xiahe, and finally back
to Beijing. She is looking forward to exploring more remote parts of
China, and is excited to be going back and getting a chance to use her Chinese.
She’s also looking forward to seeing the ACC laoshi(s) and her Zhongguo
Jiating!
Jennifer Ryan
(summer/fall 2001) will be back in China this summer. While
there, she will find out whether or not she has been accepted to study at
BeiDa for the fall term.
Christie Donchevich
(summer/fall 2001) is returning to China with Educational Services
International to teach English for 7 weeks at a Chinese university.
She also plans to work on her Chinese thesis researching the development of
Christianity in China and current religious life. In addition, she would
like to interview doctors and patients of Chinese traditional medicine over
the summer to further explore the possible of studying "Zhong yi"
after graduation from Hamilton.
Ned Smith (summer/fall
2001) is headed to Taiwan to work for two months at a non-profit that helps,
and provides legal representation for, migrant workers that come to Taiwan.
He'll be living in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan and was lucky enough to get
Yale to pay all of his expenses. He hopes to make it to the mainland
in late August for a week or so to see some of the Chinese friends that he’s
kept in touch with. Ned would appreciate any tips from anyone who has
ever been to Kaohsiung, and he'd love to meet up with anyone
who may be in Taiwan over the summer.
Ivana Wong
(fall 2001) leaves for Shanghai in June to do a summer internship with a management
consulting firm there. She hopes to recover all the Chinese she's forgotten!
Pui Lau
(PeiJun,
summer/fall 2001) will be doing some research at Hamilton with her computer
science professor for about 10 weeks this summer. Pursuant to that,
she will be going to Beijing in late July to August to help Jin Laoshi with
some multimedia learning tools. Pui would love to get together with
anyone who will be there late summer. She has no idea where she will
be staying yet, but she should be in the ACC vicinity.
Sarah Bruss
fall 2001) reports that her back, injured while in China, is feeling
much better. After three months of physical therapy at home in California
she returned to Bowdoin to take 4 classes related to Environmental Studies,
her "other passion besides studies about China." This summer
she will be living in Brunswick, ME, and working with first to fifth graders
at a summer day camp. The camp is located on the coast at a working
farm with a variety of farm animals that the campers will learn about and
care for. She will also be teaching them coastal and forest ecology.
Next year, she will be doing an independent study in environmental education
at a local elementary school. One of Sarah’s long-term goals is
to return to southern China to explore and teach English to children –
with an environmental bent, of course!
Elizabeth Clow
(Han
Meng Shuang, fall 2001) will be living in Hong Kong this summer,
teaching ESL with a program called Summerbridge National.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
As mentioned above,
Carl Polley has information on some teaching jobs in China.
The Beijing Mei-De Creative Training School is looking for part-time or full-time
teachers (preferably full-time). Salary and benefits are negotiable,
but he would estimate about 150 RMB per hour of teaching. They can handle
visa processing, but he is not sure if they will cover transportation expenses.
Interested people should send resumes to bjmeide@163bj.com,
and mention that Carl referred you. You could also e-mail Carl for more
information (see enclosed e-mail contact list).
