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Help Host an International Scholar

An increasing number of international faculty members, especially from China, are receiving government grants to conduct research abroad for periods ranging from one semester to twelve months. Some of these faculty members are enthusiastic about conducting research or translation work in ecocriticism and are therefore seeking invitations from host universities where they can work with an ASLE member.

For many of these scholars, expenses are covered through some combination of government grant, home university support, and personal funds, requiring no financial support from their host university. They do, however, require an invitation letter, assistance with the obtaining of a J-1 visa, and an official location for their stay in the U.S.

Many larger institutions already have an office that handles the paperwork for the J-1 visa application. This paperwork is necessary for international students as well as visiting faculty wishing to study at our universities. For example, at University of Central Florida it is handled by the International Services Center (http://www.intl.ucf.edu/) and a quick review of that website would provide an idea of what is required. ASLE cannot provide administrative or institutional support of any kind for this endeavor; it serves exclusively as a point of contact information.

ASLE would like to facilitate hosting international scholars by adding a page to our website with information on people who are willing to host a visiting scholar. We would also like to post information on visiting scholar currently being hosted who may be available for speaking engagements at other US institutions. Members of ASLE who would be interested in hosting a visiting scholar should provide the following information so that interested international faculty will have a list of people to contact in order to pursue their goal of conducting research in the United States: name, institution, department, area of scholarly expertise, email address or phone number, and dates they are available to host. For members of ASLE currently hosting a scholar, please send in your name and institution, your scholar's name, home institution and area(s) of research, and where to best contact that scholar regarding a possible speaking engagement at another institution. Please send this information to info@asle.org. We will update the page on an ongoing basis.