Asian emphasis

To the editor:

The Saturday Column of May 14 concluded with the question: “Is there any chance KU leaders might take the steps necessary to establish the university as a true leader in foreign language education?” His timing could not have been better. The Center for East Asian Studies and Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at KU are actively engaged in making East Asian language courses, particularly Chinese, more accessible to more students.

Intensive introductory courses in Chinese and Japanese (equal to one regular year of study) are being offered at KU this summer, and there is still time to enroll. These courses are open not only to KU students, but also to advanced high school students and members of the community, who may enroll as nondegree seeking students and apply the college credit earned toward a degree at a later date. (For more information, go to www.ceas.ku.edu.)

An additional section of introductory Chinese has also been added to the fall semester schedule to accommodate anticipated increases in enrollment. We have “built it.” We hope the students will come.

Marsha Haufler, interim director, Center for East Asian Studies

Lawrence