Departmental Visiting Scholar Policy
The Department of Asian Languages & Literature welcomes visiting
scholars who wish to study and pursue research in appropriate
subjects. For practical reasons we can only
accommodate a limited number of visitors at a given
time and therefore must ask prospective
visiting scholars to inquire well in advance of the
time of their anticipated visit regarding their
plans. The following statement of department policy
is intended to give prospective visitors an
indication of what the department is able to provide
to visitors and what our expectations and
application requirements are.
Please note at the
outset these two points:
• The policy laid out here pertains only
to individuals who will submit unsolicited requests
to
come to our department as visiting scholars.
It does not apply when the proposed visiting
scholar is to
be invited at the behest of an AL&L faculty
member.
• The policy does not deal with the technical requirements
or aspects of a visiting scholar appointment
(e.g., required financial support, visa requirements, length of stay, etc.) These
things are governed by governmental and university policies
already in place. Information of this kind can
be obtained from the department office administrator.
1. All requests for visiting scholar status must come first
to the chairman of the
department. Requests received by other AL&L faculty should be forwarded
to the chairman.
Only the chairman has the authority to issue visiting scholar
invitations. Requests must include
(a) a letter from the prospective visitor giving a brief
sketch of the visitor’s teaching and
research background, explaining what the visitor proposes
to work on while here and why this
department is a desirable or appropriate place to carry
out that work; (b) a c.v. and
bibliography. These documents must be received either
in “hard copies” or
electronically as pdf
attachments. (In view of the great uncertainty of successful
forwarding, opening, reading and
printing of attachments in Asian languages using other
software, we must ask for pdf’s.)
2. The chairman will circulate requests to appropriate
faculty members for review and
recommendation. In assessing the suitability of requests
faculty will take into consideration the
appropriateness and compatibility of the prospective
visitor’s research
to that of our
department overall. Faculty will also consider how the
prospective visitor might interact with
the department, through such things as colloquia, brown
bag lunch talks, informal work with
faculty and students, etc. Under normal circumstances visiting
scholars will be expected to have
some tangible, visible interaction with the department,
though the extent of such interaction
may vary according to individual circumstances.
3. At least one faculty member must be interested enough
in having the visitor here to be
willing to spend a little time and effort in hosting the
visitor. This need not go beyond such
things as a welcoming meeting, answering questions, introducing
the visitor to the library, etc.
4. When one or more faculty members have expressed interest
in having a visitor
invited, including a willingness to assume the “hosting” responsibility
described in number 3
above, and when there is no expressed opinion to the contrary,
the chairman will send a formal
letter of invitation.
5. No explicit limit will be set on the number of visiting
scholars that the department can
host at a given time, though the chairman reserves the
right to refrain from issuing new
invitations when there is a sense that we already have
reached a maximum number of visitors
who can be properly accommodated at one time.
6. Visiting scholars can expect that their affiliation
with our department will entitle them
to library access privileges, and that they will be welcome
at all departmental activities,
colloquia, lectures, etc., and to visit appropriate classes
at the discretion of the individual
instructors. Prospective visitors should note that the
department, unfortunately, does not have
any means to provide any kind of financial support, telephone
or computer facilities, mail box
or office space to visitors. Visitors will be required
to cover their own expenses in all respects,
including visa costs when applicable.
Last updated Winter 2005
