Are you interested in China? Are you interested in finding out more about how Drake engaged in modern and contemporary China, or the other way around?

Are you interested in writing your own history, and first, learning to create a research guide/annotated bibliography of sorts that would help future students from disciplines find areas of possible research?

Do you have 10+ hours per month and 40+ hours this fall to complete a research project?

If you answered yes to the questions above, keep reading:

Drake undergraduate students are invited to participate in a pilot documentation project entitled “Drake in China: Past and Present.” The project will be co-facilitated by En Li, assistant professor of history, and Hope Bibens, associate professor of librarianship. We are looking for undergraduate researchers to create a collection of materials related to Drake University’s historical engagement in China and to explore possible platforms to showcase their research. Sample topics include but not limit to:

• First Chinese student came study at Drake, 1890s;
• Madame Chiang Kai-shek’s visit to Drake, 1959;
• Exchange students between Drake and China since the 1980s;
• Drake Football Team’s visit to China in 2018: Memory, Experience, and Reflection;
• The “Teach in China” program-Memory, Experience, and Reflection;
• The Branstad archives in the Drake law school (or interview with Terry Branstad as an oral history project);
• Gift exchange between Drake and China;

Successful projects will be invited to present at the U.S. China Symposium and International Educational Week on campus this fall. Researchers are also encouraged to submit their projects for publication in the Drake Undergraduate Social Science Journal (DUSSJ). The digital/physical exhibit will be featured during the Asian Heritage Month in May 2023.

This project is generously supported by a Drake Research Grant from the Provost’s Office. There are spots for three researchers. Selected researchers will be awarded a stipend of $450 only upon completion of proposed research.

What do you need to do to receive a $450 stipend?

• self-design a topic that you are interested in, related to Drake and China;
• conduct the research by collecting, categorizing, and interpreting primary sources;
• identify a platform to publish/exhibit your research by the end of the fall semester.

Selection criteria:

• value of the proposed topic and intellectual inquiry;
• feasibility of the research scale (within one semester);
• creativity of the proposed platform to publish/exhibit the results;
• previous research experience and research ability;
• previous knowledge about China—being able read and write in Chinese is not required, but would be a plus.

If you are interested in participating, submit your proposal by filling out this form below by Sept. 2. Selected candidates will be notified via email by Sept. 6, Monday.

For research and China related questions (for example, what might make the Drake Football Team’s visit to Drake an interesting topic), please contact En Li (en.li@drake.edu), for archive related questions (for example, what would be considered to be valuable archives to collect from the Football Team’s trip to China, and what would be feasible platforms to publish/exhibit the results), please contact Hope Bibens (hope.bibens@drake.edu).

— En Li, History Department