Mission Statement

The Center for Asian and Pacific Studies is a research and outreach center devoted to promoting understanding of the Asia-Pacific region. Its primary aim is to foster collaborative and individual research engaging Asia-interested scholars from the UO, the nation, and around the world. The Center is distinctive in terms of its geographic scope with programmatic focus on East Asia, South East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands. The Center serves as a nexus for interdisciplinary interactions with scholars and distinguished figures from the Asia-Pacific region. It fosters opportunities for students in the region and enriches and supports the Asian Studies Program. It sponsors public lectures, conferences, working papers, and special developmental and innovative projects. The Center shares its research-based knowledge and insights with students, educators, business firms, the general public, interested community groups, and government offices throughout Oregon. The intellectual interests of the Center are extremely broad reflecting the diverse backgrounds of its affiliated faculty. It has a strong interdisciplinary focus, encompassing both historical and contemporary perspectives. The complex interaction between the global and local in the Asia-Pacific context has become a major theme of the Center in the twenty-first century.

Center Staff

Director: Maram Epstein

maram@uoregon.edu

Maram Epstein is a professor of late imperial Chinese literature with interests in the intersections of narrative aesthetics, gender, ritual, intellectual history, and history of emotions. She has been at the University of Oregon since 1994 serving in university leadership in a variety of capacities including department head and United Academics VP for tenure track faculty. She is author of two monographs, Competing Discourses: Orthodoxy, Authenticity, and Engendered Meanings in Late-Imperial Chinese Fiction (Harvard University East Asian Series, 2001), and Orthodox Passions: Narrating Filial Love during the High Qing (Harvard University East Asian Series, 2019). She is currently working on tanci novels and other fictional texts written by elite women to explore how women rewrote the dominant tropes of male-authored fiction, including the representation of emotions. As CAPS director, she is committed to working with Asianist faculty and students to support the UO’s research and pedagogical missions.

Interim Associate Director: Kylie Yihua Post

kpost@uoregon.edu

Recently honored as one of the 2024 University of Oregon Outstanding Employees, Kylie brings over a decade of expertise in higher education program administration. Her specialization includes project management, program and grant coordination, student supervision and advising, event planning, and business process optimization within the Division of Global Engagement, the College of Education, and the College of Arts and Sciences. Her work has facilitated greater understanding of educational systems, fostered faculty teaching and research partnerships, and supported student exchanges and other collaborations between UO and its global partners. With a prior background in equity market research and business development, complemented by an MBA in Marketing and Innovation Management, she is specialized in cross-cultural communication and collaboration across academic and business sectors. Kylie is fluent in both English and Mandarin.

Student Assistant: Olivia He

olih@uoregon.edu

Olivia He is a student at the University of Oregon, pursuing a double major in Art and Japanese. Bilingual with Chinese-Cantonese and Chinese-Mandarin, with professional proficiency in Japanese, Olivia has lived in both China and Japan, developing strong cross-cultural communication skills. Outside of academics, she has been involved in various volunteer efforts, served as a police cadet, and is a member of the Chinese Youth and Women Developmental Organization, reflecting her commitment to community service and leadership.

Student Assistant: Emma Weast

eweast@uoregon.edu

Emma Weast is a first-year transfer student at the University of Oregon, majoring in Chinese and Fine Arts with a focus on Graphic Design. As a Graphic Design CTE Pathway Completer and a Chinese adoptee, she intends to combine her interests in art and Chinese culture in her studies.

Advisory Board

Yugen Wang – East Asian Languages and Literatures

Luke Habberstad – Asian Studies / East Asian Languages and Literatures & Religious Studies

Rachel DiNitto – East Asian Languages and Literatures

Leah Lowthorp – Anthropology

Bishwarup Sen – School of Journalism and Communications

For more information about the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies programs, please contact:

Kylie Post, Interim Associate Director Center for Asian and Pacific Studies 110B Gerlinger Hall 1246 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403 Phone: 541-346-5068 FAX: 541-346-0802 Email: kpost@uoregon.edu If you’d like, you can use our Contact page by clicking here.