International faculty members, most recently 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 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.
Members of ASLE who would be interested in hosting a visiting scholar should provide the following information: 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 Amy McIntyre at info@asle.org.
bsantang@ku.edu
Office phone: 785.864.2579
University of Kansas
Department of English
1445 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 3001
Lawrence, Kansas 66045
greg.garrard@ubc.ca
Office Phone: (250) 807-8479
Associate Professor, Sustainability
CCS391, Department of Critical Studies,
UBC Okanagan,
CCS Building, 1148 Research Road,
Kelowna BC V1V 1V7 Canada
rpickard@uvic.ca
Office phone: (250) 721-6636
Department of English
University of Victoria
PO Box 3070, STN CSC
Victoria, BC
V8W 3W1, CANADA