Special congratulations to the following 2024 Graduating Seniors!
Phi Beta Kappa: Miriam Clapp, Ayla Straub, and Atle Wammer
Distinction in Asian Studies: Atle Wammer
Distinction in Chinese: Miriam Clapp and Hannah Monhardt
National Collegiate Chinese Honor Society: Miriam Clapp, Ryan Harvey, Miori Ito, Demetri Lord, Megan Lu, Hannah Monhardt, Ayla Straub, and Rowan Wilson
Japanese National Honor Society: Matson Bailey, Edwin Morales, and Sarah Thao
Fulbright Scholarship: Miriam Clapp and Hannah Monhardt
Recent Student Achievements
Hannah Monhardt ’24, a major in Asian Studies & Chinese, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Taiwan for the 2024-25 academic year.
Miriam Clapp ’24, a major in Chinese and Quantitative Economics, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in Taiwan but is pursuing the Princeton in Asia Fellowship instead.
Kimberly Crosby ’24 has been accepted to the JET Program to teach English in Japan in 2024.
Sarah Thao ’24 will be teaching English in Japan in 2024 with the JET Program.
Trevor Vlaming ’24 will join the JET Program to teach English in Japan in 2024.
Michel Gonzalez Hernandez ’24 will be teaching English in Japan in 2024 with the JET Program.
Addie Rossinow ’25 has had her essay “中国如何降低温室气体排放量？Strategies for Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China” published in the Kennesaw Tower, a peer-reviewed Undergraduate World Languages and Cultures Research Journal.
Emily Cerimele ’23 has had her essay “中国有身心障碍的孩子的教育概观：权利与问题、
Jodie Clay ’23 has had her essay “日本广告和美国广告的天壤之别 Distinguishing Features: Japanese Advertising versus American Advertising” published in the Kennesaw Tower, a peer-reviewed Undergraduate World Languages and Cultures Research Journal.
Sarah Thao ’24 was awarded the Mondale Scholarship to study at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.
Jodie Clay ’23 has had her essay, 数一数二的鼎泰丰 Ding Tai Feng – The World Renowned Restaurant, written in Chinese 320, published in the 2022 issue of JUHE Supplement, a prominent annual magazine of Chinese language learners’ essay writing. She presented her essay at the 2022 Pan Lingua: Undergraduate Conference on Languages and Cultures at Minnesota State University in Mankato on Monday, October 24, 2022.
Ling O’Donoghue ’21 has had her research paper, 论中国现代社会留守儿童现象之起因与影响 The Causes and Effects of the Left-behind Children in Chinese Society, written in Chinese 360, accepted for publication by Kenneshaw Tower, a peer-reviewed undergraduate foreign language research journal.
Hana Anderson ’20 has won a James C. Gaither Junior Fellowship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, for Japan. She is the first Ole to win one of the twelve coveted positions that are awarded annually. Kudos to Hana!
Emily Cerimele ’23 and Mila New ’22 have received the Critical Language Scholarship for Chinese study in 2021. Gus Emmons ’23 and Gkao Xiong ’23 have been selected as alternates. CLS is a highly competitive national award for intensive language study, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, and these four outstanding students have earned our congratulations!
Jay Xiong ’10 serves in the Minnesota House of Representatives representing district 67B. Graduating with an Asian Studies major from St. Olaf, he has been an important advocate for his Asian American constituents.
Alison Curry ’19 is conducting air quality research in Beijing, China, with support from the Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment (LIASE). To learn more about her research, click here.
Kyle Oberman ’14 is a conservation photographer and author who has produced a stunning spread in The National Geographic in which he speaks about China’s national park system and the difficulties of balancing conservation and the tourism industry.
Graduate Studies and Internships
- Hannah Edstrom ’16, pursuing a Masters degree in Education while working as a tutor with AmeriCorps.
- Priyanka Subramanian ’16, Ph.D. program in Education at the University of Wisconsin.
- Mari McClelland ’16 is choosing between master’s programs at UCSD and Duke.
- Hana Anderson ’20 is choosing between Georgetown and Hopkins SAIS for a master’s degree.
- Julianne Stewart ’20, Georgetown’s MASIA program.
- Sandy Faure ’20, Masters program in Asian Studies at George Washington University Elliot School.
- Grace LaNasa ’21 (Asian Studies/History majors), Masters of Film Studies program at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Christopher Steene ’20 (English/Women and Gender Studies majors & Japanese Studies concentration), JET program in Japan for a year and has been accepted into a Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago.
- Sofia Reed ’20 (Chinese/Women and Gender Studies majors), Masters program in International and Regional Studies at the University of Michigan.
- Shuqing Guo ’20 (Asian Studies/Economics majors), Masters program in East Asian Studies, Duke University.
- Shan Chen ’20 (Japanese/Math majors), Masters in Science , Computational Linguistics program at Brandeis University.
- Jiashan Song ’20 (Asian Studies/Japanese/Economics majors), graduate program at the University of Washington.
- Hans Shen ’20 (Asian Studies/Chinese majors), the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
- Camille Gonzalez ’20 (Asian Studies/Sociology-Anthropology/Art History majors), the International Chinese Language Program at the National Taiwan University.
- George Arbanas ’20 (Asian Studies/Japanese majors), LABO Internship in Japan.
- Hannah Sorenson ’19 (Chinese/Political Science majors & Asian Studies concentration), Masters program in International Studies at John Hopkins-Nanjing.
- Adam Weiss ’19 (Political Science major), Masters program in Social Sciences at the University of Chicago.
- Keya Yan ’18, is pursuing a Ph.D. in Chinese Art History.
- Serena Calcagno ’17 (Biology major), has received a Huayu Fellowship to study Chinese in Taiwan.
- Meena Wainright ’17, Masters program in Linguistics at the University of Hawai’i.
Fulbright Grantees
Congratulations to the following students for recently receiving Fulbright awards!
- Julianne Stewart ’20 (Alternate): She majored in Asian Studies and Chinese at St. Olaf.
- Jamie Mosel ’12: Second Fulbright to study ecology at the University of Hokkaido. She majored in Biology and History (Japanese Studies concentration) and is about to finish her Ph.D in the Natural Resources Science & Management Program at the University of Minnesota.
- Melanie Thompson ’19: Fulbright to do research in China on the environment with Renmin University of China. She majored in Asian Studies with a Film Studies concentration.
- Joseph Janik Miller ’19: Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Indonesia. He was an economics and political science major.
- Teiana Nakama ’19: Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Taiwan. At St. Olaf, she majored in race and ethnic studies and religion with a concentration in educational studies.
- Chamee Vang ’19: Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Tailand. She majored in English with concentrations in education studies, race and ethnic studies and linguistics and holds a ESL license ad TEFL certificate.
- Maddie Maccam ’18: Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Laos. She majored in instrumental and vocal music education at St. Olaf and plans a career in education or law.
- Olivia Sullivan ’18: Study/Research Award in China. Sullivan will investigate possible correlations between prenatal maternal behaviors and risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) development in children in Tianjin, China. She will join an existing research team analyzing data from Tianjin Women and Children’s Health Center, and will use observations, interviews, and data analysis to fill the research gap that exists on ASD in Asia. Sullivan was a Chinese and biology major with an education concentration.
- Serena Calcagno ’17: English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan. Calcagno was a biology major.
- Mari McClelland ’16: Study/Research Award in China. McClelland conducted research on forest tenure and national forest policy in China. In 2015, she was named a Udall Scholar for demonstrating leadership, public service and commitment to the environment. McClelland was an Asian Studies and Environmental Studies major.
- Cameron Rylander ’16: English Teaching Assistant in South Korea. He furthered his experience by engaging in K-pop dance performance and studying traditional Korean cuisine. Rylander was an Asian Studies major.
China Fellows
Aubrey Olson ’18 and Hannah Matecko-Conti ’18 are China Fellow Interns, serving as college-level English instructors at East China Normal University in Shanghai. They write: “Our classes are going great so far! We are all settled in (paperwork/legalities included). We have also been keeping in touch with the St. Olaf students [studying abroad] here, and they seem to be doing well.” Olson was a biology major and Chinese Studies concentrator and Matecko-Conti was a Chinese major.
Alumni
Alumni: we want to hear from you! Please fill out this short survey about your time since graduation.
Keep up with the department and your fellow alumni by liking our Facebook page!
Through the Piper Center, students can find more information about life after graduation from St. Olaf. They have prepared resources profiling recent alumni from the Asian Studies program, including representative First Destinations and alumni contact information.
See below for some information on what Asian Studies alumni have been up to since their time at St. Olaf.
Alumni By Decade
Above: Asian Studies alumni meeting up in Tokyo, 2017
See what Asian Studies department graduates have been up to in their careers!
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