On April 30th, 2026, faculty, staff, students and family members gathered in the Vandenberg Room of the Michigan League to celebrate our 2025-2026 graduates and awardees. The event was hosted by the Asian Languages and Cultures Department Chair, Deirdre de la Cruz, and the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Juhn Ahn, with faculty members joining to present departmental awards.
The ceremony began with a greeting from Dr. de la Cruz to welcome parents and students to the ceremony, and then moving on to highlighting the great accomplishments of all our students that were recognized. Our first awards acknowledged achivements within each of our language programs. These awardees stood out amongst their peers in both their academic and extracurricular pursuits.
The 2026 language awards recipients were:
| Chinese Language | Japanese Language |
| Alexander Iekel-Johnson | Saicharan Vemuri |
| Joshua Lyon | Ari Roth |
| South Asian Language | Korean Language |
| Ela Upton (Bengali) | Courtney Mims |
| Megan Matte (Hindi) | Toby Buckfire |
| Vikramjeet Kapoor (Punjabi) | Southeast Asian Language |
| Ami Patel (Tamil) | Mia Mojares (Filipino) |
| Samhitha Kattethota (Urdu) | Divyashree Dwarakanath (Indonesian) |
| Yehan He (Thai) | |
| Kathy Vu (Vietnamese) |
Additional departmental awards were then presented by members of the department faculty to honor hard work and passion among undergraduate and graduate students.
The twelfth annual Philip Thomas Lincoln, Jr. Memorial Endowment was presented by Dr. Trent Walker to Asa Willoughby, a Doctoral Candidate in Asian Languages and Cultures. This fellowship is named for a 1964 LSA graduate who was a career diplomat with the U.S. State Department from 1966 to 1996. Lincoln dedicated his life to the betterment of relations between the United States and the countries of Asia, especially China. The Lincoln Fellowship is given to one ALC graduate student a year to assist with funding a proposed research trip abroad. Asa will be using this award to help support the next phase of his research in India this summer, including Tamil language study, dance performance, and multi-sited fieldwork, deepening his understanding of the connections between diasporic communities in the U.S. and U.K. and the South Asian cultural traditions that continue to shape them.
The Charles and Myrl Hucker Essay and Research Prizes are a tribute to the scholarly and collegial legacy left behind by Charles O. Hucker, a Professor of Chinese in the department from 1965-1983. It also recognizes the great support and friendship he received from his wife, Myrl. The Essay Prize is given annually for the best China-focused essay written by an undergraduate in an Asian Languages and Cultures course. Dr. Miranda Brown presented this award to ALC graduating senior, Aiden Armstrong, for his essay “Ballads Beyond Borders: The Rise of Teresa Teng in Mainland China." In his essay, Aiden explores the reasons for Taiwanese pop sensation Theresa Teng’s popularity in Mainland China beginning in the late 1970s. His analysis brings together closer reading of Chinese language lyrics with a formal analysis of the musicological features of Teng’s music along with a discussion of Cross-Straits relations.
The Charles and Myrl Hucker Research Prize recognizes a graduate student in the area of Chinese Studies. Dr. Trent Walker honored ALC graduate student, Elif Yildirim, who was selected for this award. Elif's dissertation brings overdue attention to themes of isolation, withdrawal, and solitude in early Chinese literature. Drawing on a wide range of early texts, she shows how these themes shape ethical reflection and sociopolitical debate, and how they reveal changing ideas about autonomy, belonging, legitimacy, and authority.
The eighth annual Kristin Carosella Memorial Fellowship named in honor of a 2013 graduate in Asian Studies and Anthropology who, following graduation, pursued a career teaching English to school-age children in China before her death in September 2014. Through generous donations from the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies; the Center for Japanese Studies; the Nam Center for Korean Studies; the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures; the Department of Anthropology; and the Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, this fellowship has been established in perpetuity to honor her life and to inspire other students to pursue service to others through teaching in Asia. We had the honor of awarding the Carosella Memorial Fellowship to two very deserving graduating students, Alexander Iekel-Johnson and Hiro Pleasant. Dr. Ahn presented the award to Alexander, who is planning to move to Nanjing, China this summer to teach English as a second language. Dr. Akiko Imamura, the Director of the Japanese Language Progam, presented the award to Hiro, who will be moving to Japan in August 2026 to work as an assistant language teacher through the JET program.
Following the presentation of awards, Dr. de la Cruz recognized the hard work of the three students graduating from the Asian Studies major with Honors. Graduating with Honors not only requires completing the major with stellar grades, but also working closely with a faculty member to complete an Honors thesis. The 2026 ALC Honors graduates were:
- Aiden Armstrong Ballads Beyong Borders: The Rise of Teresa Teng in Mainland China
- advised by Professor Miranda Brown
- Kristen Pikaart Monochromatic Family, Tetrachromatic Nation: Korean Adoption and Christian Nationalism in Mid-Century America
- advised by Professor Youngju Ryu
- Lauren Taylor The Kids Were Alright: The Cultural Politics of Punk in South Korea
- advised by Professor Youngju Ryu
Fourteen students graduated with an Asian Studies major in 2026, exemplifying the diverse range of academic interests represented in the many areas of study our department offers. This year's graduating class comprises of 6 Japanese studies students, 4 Korean studies students, 3 Chinese studies students, and 1 South Asian studies student.
| Japanese Studies | Korean Studies | Chinese Studies |
| Aurora Willow Brendtke | Alyssa Bird | Aiden Matthew Armstrong |
| Laynee Brighton Caldwell | Junseoo Ryan Lee | Alexander S. Iekel-Johnson |
| Changcheng Chen | Mathie Mountbatten | William Gedney Rechner |
| Chloe Grace Coleman | Lauren R. Taylor | |
| Mateo Diaz | South Asian Studies |
|
| Kristen Li Pikaart | Kamika Kaur | |
We also recognized one PhD student who defended her dissertation this year:
- Swarnim Khare States of Elusion: The Revolutionary Writer Across Hindi, Urdu, and English in South Asia
The department elected to do a hooding ceremony to honor Swarnim on this momentous occasion. Swarnim's advisor and chair of her dissertation committee, Dr. Christi Merrill, spoke on Swarnim's thesis and journey completing her dissertation, and presented her with her hood.
The Department of Asian Languages and Cultures wishes to extend a sincere congratulations to all of our awardees and graduates this year. Thank you for taking part in this special day.
