On May 1st, 2025, faculty, staff, students and family members gathered in the Vandenberg Room of the Michigan League to celebrate our 2024-2025 graduates and awardees. The event was hosted by the Asian Languages and Cultures Department Chair, Benjamin Brose, and the Director of Undergraduate Studies, David Brick, with faculty members joining to present departmental awards.
The ceremony began with a greeting from Dr. Brose 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 2025 language awards recipients were:
| Chinese Language | Japanese Language |
| Aiden Armstrong | Suparna Hande |
| Flynn Lyon | Hao Song |
| South Asian Language | Korean Language |
| Ehsan Ahmed (Bengali) | Wanyi Lou |
| Styron Pereira (Hindi) | Daja Terrell |
| Kareena Raybuck(Punjabi) | Southeast Asian Language |
| Nikhil Rangarajan (Tamil) | Erin Segui (Filipino) |
| Elizabeth Harris (Urdu) | Abigail Kurniawan (Indonesian) |
| Emily Kramer (Thai) | |
| Phiphi Nguyen (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. Christopher Hill to Kaeun Park, 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. Kaeun will be using this award to conduct archival research in Seoul and Seongnam this summer that forms the basis for one chapter of her thought-provoking thesis.
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. Brose presented this award to current junior and Sociology major, Qihao Liang, for his essay entitled A Tale of Two Shores: Divided Kin-States and Mainland China-Taiwan Migration from 2008 to 2024. In his essay, Qihao advances diaspora scholarship beyond a unitary homeland framework by examining the interesting ways in which political division has shaped migration patterns between Mainland China and Taiwan since 2008.
The Charles and Myrl Hucker Research Prize recognizes a graduate student in the area of Chinese Studies. Dr. Hill presented this award to ALC graduate student, Raymond Hsu, whose dissertation is on the cultural revival and indigenous rights movement of the Makatao, an Austronesian indigenous people residing in southern Taiwan. The Hucker Research Award will support a month of fieldwork by Raymond this summer, as well as dissertation writing and participation in a Preparing Future Faculty seminar co-organized by the Rackham Graduate School and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching.
The seventh 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. Teaching Professor of Chinese, Jinyi Li-Stevenson, presented the award to Caitlin Tay, who is planning on moving to China this summer to teach English as a second language. Professor Li-Stevenson notes that Caitlin's linguistic excellence and deep understanding of Chinese culture and social nuances are skills that will benefit her greatly as she embarks on this new adventure.
Following the presentation of awards, Dr. Brose recognized the hard work of the two 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 2025 ALC Honors graduates were:
- Michael Delphia Assemblies of Empire: Ethnic Korean Participation in the Manchukuo Concordia Association
- advised by Professor Micah Auerback
- Monica Yoo Fought for Honor, Forced into the Periphery: the Legacy of Korean Vietnam War Veterans, An Oral History Project
- advised by Professor Markus Nornes
Twenty-six students graduated with an Asian Studies major in 2024, exemplifying the diverse range of academic interests represented in the many areas of study our department offers. This year's graduating class comprises of 12 Chinese studies students, 8 Japanese studies students, 5 Korean studies students, and 1 South Asian studies student.
| Chinese Studies | Japanese Studies | Korean Studies |
| Zachary Edmund Ahee | Mason Gerald Dzakowic | Brian O Georgis |
| Katherine E Austin | Suparna Hande | Colin Janak |
| Miriam Jane Chrenka | Andrea Nicole Heslip | Samantha P Smith |
| Ethan Adam Clark | Ashton Brady LeCain-Scott | Monica G Yoo |
| Michael Kosei Delphia | Zenzi Grace Peter | Eden Yu |
| Ava Marie Ferrante | Geneviece J Rice | |
| Catherine Lee Hwang | Alba Tinelli | |
| Sarah Jin | Sydney Tien Tran | |
| Shunhua Liu | ||
| Flynn Andrew Lyon | South Asian Studies | |
| Jalen Edward Sumlin | Qiyang Guo | |
| Caitlin Tay |
We also recognized one PhD student who defended her dissertation this year:
- Ruby MacDougall Dancing the Kingdom of God: Christianity, Physical Eduaction, and Modern Dance in Republican China
The department elected to do a hooding ceremony to honor Ruby on this momentous occasion. Ruby's advisor and co-chair of her dissertation committee, Dr. Emily Wilcox, flew in from Virginia to speak on Ruby's thesis and journey completing her dissertation, and to present 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.
