4 10 91 http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/f72eb6ee87ae34bb8261c90f5c85e6a2.pdf 1a385b62ea41d498437a90351c5c7cd2 PDF Text Text Tenzin Norzin 12/16/16 Professor Christoff AAS 307 The Interview Section One Person Interviewed: Dr. Alfreda Murck Interviewee’s title or position: art historian and independent scholar with a Ph.D. in Chinese Art and Archaeology Date, time, and length of interview: The interview was held on November 19, 2016 at 2 PM and lasted for forty minutes. Objective: to trace the arc of Dr. Murck’s upbringing, education, and career and to connect her life to the broader context of U.S.-Asia relations Section Two First, I conducted my research on a broad scope: I entered Dr. Murck’s name into different search engines, such as Google and YouTube, and looked through the results. This initial step led me to five important sources. The first was a brief biography of Dr. Murck posted on a Princeton University alumni board—while it did not include any biographical details, the overview of Dr. Murck’s education and career was most helpful. The second source I found was a video on YouTube of a presentation Dr. Murck gave as part of the Humanitas Visiting Professorship in Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge. The third source I found was a short essay on Jstor from during her time working as the assistant curator of the Asian Art department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The fourth source was from the Stony Brook University website itself: an event description of a lecture on Mao and ‘The Sanctification of the �Mango’ that Dr. Murck gave at Charles B. Wang Center on November 5, 2014. The fifth source encompasses all the author blurbs for her book, Poetry and Painting in Song China, that I found online on Amazon, on the University of Chicago Press’s website, and on the Harvard University Press’s website. These varied sources provided different insights into Dr. Murck’s life and career. I conducted the second part of my pre-interview research on a narrow scope: I focused on the five sources I mentioned above, took notes on the information they provided, and thought about how to use that information in my questions. From the Princeton University source, I learned that Dr. Murck earned her Ph.D. in Chinese Art and Archaeology from Princeton, worked at the Metropolitan Department of Art in the Asian Art department from 1978 to 1991, and lived abroad in Taiwan and China with her husband, Christian, from 1991 to 2013. During her time abroad, Dr. Murck worked as a consultant for the Forbidden City’s Palace Museum and as a teacher for Peking University’s Central Academy of Fine Arts. And from 2005 to 2013, she and the Henry Luce Foundation worked together on programs to introduce the study of Western art into China. From the YouTube video, I gained a sense of Dr. Murck’s personality and speaking style while the Jstor article, the Wang Center event description, and the author bios from her books gave a more comprehensive picture of her professional interests. Based on this research, I decided to divide my questions into three parts: her upbringing, her education, and her career. I wanted to learn more about Dr. Murck as a person but also supplement the information I found online with personal insights and experiences that I could not otherwise have heard. I prepared fifteen questions, five of which I sent to Dr. Murck before the interview so that she could prepare for them. 1. Where were you born? 2. What was your childhood or upbringing like? How did it influence the rest of your life? �3. Where did you get your undergraduate degree from and what did you study? 4. Did you always know that you wanted to study Chinese art? a. For what reasons, did you choose to go into the study of Chinese art? 5. You worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1978-1991, correct? a. What was your role at the Met and what was the experience of working there like? 6. Did you encounter many other women in your field, whether during your time in school or at the Met? 7. What aspect of your career do you most enjoy? 8. In our Women in U.S.-Asia Relations class, we briefly discussed the experience of culture shock for Asian immigrants coming into the United States. In what ways did you, as an American living abroad in China, experience culture shock? 9. What hardships did you encounter while living and working in Taiwan and China? 10. You’ve lived and worked in the United States, Taiwan, and China; what differences did you perceive between these three countries, especially between the United States and China or Taiwan and China? 11. In terms of your work with the Henry Luce Foundation, for what reasons did you choose to introduce programs on Western art to a Chinese audience? 12. How does art history, whether it is the study of Chinese art or American art, fit into the broader context of U.S.-Asia Relations? 13. To someone who might not believe in the importance of the arts, how would you explain the value of art history? �14. What advice do you have for students like me who are pursuing Art History and/or China Studies? 15. Moving forward, what else do you want to accomplish career-wise? Section Three I conducted a mixed-structure interview but prepared enough questions beforehand for a structured one, in case I was unable to come up with questions during the interview itself. I think the mixed-structure format is the best fit for this type of interview, which needs to be organized and well-thought out to meet the expectations of a college-level course but does not have the rigidity of a more formal interview like a job interview. I asked many probing questions, especially regarding her career and time abroad. For example, one of the questions I prepared before the interview was: for what reasons, did you choose to go into the study of Chinese art? Dr. Murck’s response to this question seemed to reflect that it was a decision brought about by chance rather than careful planning, so I asked her to clarify her answer. Dr. Murck did not send me any background documentation or research that needed to be looked through, not unsurprising considering that she is a very private person as I learned over the course of my research; much of the information I found online about her was regarding her career—biographical and personal details were few and far in between. I sent Dr. Murck five questions about a week before the interview, and she was well-prepared with a sheet of notes for those questions. She was engaged and lively throughout the interview, and fully answered each of my questions. This completeness as well as the thoughtfulness of her answers seems to reflect her measured, well-spoken scholarly persona. �Section Four Dr. Murck was born in Eugene, Oregon but grew up in Santa Barbara, California, where she also attended college. She credits her parents, who told her “to just do the best you can, and follow your interests, your enthusiasms,” for a “loving, nurturing” upbringing. After graduating with her undergraduate degree, Dr. Murck originally wanted to travel to Bordeaux, France to study French Impressionism but, realizing that her French language skills were not up to par and that Impressionism was what everyone else wanted to study, she applied to study in Hong Kong instead. In Hong Kong, she became captivated by Chinese culture and art; thus, a quick change of decisions and a desire “to see the world” were the foundations for her lifelong study of Chinese art history. When I asked Dr. Murck about whether she encountered many women in her field, whether at school or at work, she responded by describing her time at the Met Museum in the 1980s. She explained that, at that time, many of the docents were talented, intelligent women with expansive knowledge of art but that now “you don’t get that quality of docentry anymore” because those type of women, who were doing docent work in the 80s, now occupy high-level positions in museums and companies. She also described one of her colleagues, who had worked her way up the ladder. Although Dr. Murck did not explicitly mention that she thought women faced disadvantages in the workplace for their gender, her response, in choosing to describe hard-working women who were limited to low-level positions or who had to struggle to the top, speaks for itself. Dr. Murck also did not explicitly discuss the limitations she faced as a woman but, once again, it was expressed in the stories she told. After she and her husband married, they both applied to Harvard and Princeton; however, she was accepted to Harvard not Princeton and he to �Princeton not Harvard—after describing this, she laughingly said, “So we went to Princeton!” This story illustrates that Dr. Murck, as the wife, was expected to accompany her husband to Princeton and support him in his higher education studies while putting her own on hold. She thought that “it might be different now, that she might be more assertive, more of an independent-minded woman” but she still brushed aside the story by saying “but we had a great time and I re-applied to Princeton later.” When I asked Dr. Murck why she and her husband chose to live abroad and move to Taiwan and then to China, she described the job opportunities that were available overseas but not in America for her husband. Dr. Murck also worked while abroad but, at the same time, the reason why she and her husband moved at all was for her husband. Dr. Murck discussed how art history, as a profession, was sometimes not well-regarded during her stay in China: “sometimes, I would say I teach history, and that was okay but art history was not.” While people might dismiss the value of art history, Dr. Murck thinks art history is important because “it enhances life”—it exposes people to different cultures and allows them to gain a greater understanding of these cultures. If this is not reason enough, art history also has a valuable role within the framework of international relations; after all, “exhibitions are often turned to as a first gesture of diplomatic relations.” Countries that wish to develop good relations often will loan each other art “as a first gesture” and then progress from that point. Section Five The opportunity to hear from someone with Dr. Murck’s level of experience and understanding of art history was a meaningful one for me as an art history major myself. Over the course of the interview, I found myself drawing connections between the different parts of �her career that Dr. Murck spoke on and understanding the role of art on a greater scale. When explaining why art history matters, Dr. Murck described art as having the power to enhance life, and I could see that held true for Dr. Murck’s own life—she originally intended to study Impressionism but her decision to pursue Chinese art, motivated by her curiosity about and interest in the subject, led her to the path she is on now. She also described the diplomatic importance of art not only to divide but also to unite different groups. Consider the role of propaganda and then consider the role of programs like the one Dr. Murck worked on with the Henry Luce Foundation. To promote the study of Western art inside China, she and the Luce Foundation invited professors and experts in Western art to China and had them travel to different universities and centers giving lectures. Not only was a program in Western art motivated by the need for one but also by a desire to bridge the gap between the two fields of Western art and Chinese art through the engagement of Western art experts and Chinese audiences. I appreciated how engaged she was throughout the interview and how willing she was to share her life stories; as Professor Christoff mentioned in class, sometimes life stories are the better vehicles than hard-hitting questions for communicating different ideas. Her stories of her life as an art historian and the time she spent abroad were amazing to listen to, and also reminiscent of, as James and John mentioned in their own presentation about their interview with Carolyn L. Brehm, who works at Proctor & Gamble, the lives of the missionary women we learned about in class. They traveled abroad, often accompanying their husbands, to places and into cultures unfamiliar to them to teach the people living there. While Carolyn L. Brehm’s story and Dr. Murck’s story may be reminiscent of these women, they are also very modern stories with modern sensibilities. Thankfully, we have learned some lessons from history. *Publisher's note: Upon review of the student project, Ms. Murck requested the following addendum: "Peking University is an older and completely separate institution from the Central Academy of Fine Arts." - Alfreda Murck​ � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Murck, Alfreda ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_amurck_doc_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Norzin, Tenzin Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Alfreda Murck http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/1753fb36425ef2e29396eafb74fbe2fc.pdf 8720833d197bc0f28d7018d354e3f12d PDF Text Text Alfreda Murck is an art historian and independent scholar who was born in Eugene, Oregon and grew up in California. From 1978 to 1991, she worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she helped organize the creation of the Astor garden (the second picture) in the Chinese art section. And from 1991 to 2013, she and her husband lived in Taiwan and in Beijing, where she worked as a consultant for the Forbidden City’s Palace Museum. 1 �When I asked her why she chose to pursue the study of Chinese art, she said, “Well, I wanted to see the world.” Although she originally wanted to study French Impressionism, she ended up traveling to Hong Kong because of her realistic yet open-minded approach to life. After her study abroad in Hong Kong galvanized her interest in Chinese art history, she went back to school to study Chinese Art and Archaeology. As an art historian, Dr. Murck discusses the value of “cultural exchange” between the United States and China: it exposes people to different cultures and allows them to gain a greater understanding of these cultures. Oftentimes, art is also a vital part of diplomatic relations: “exhibitions are often turned to as a first gesture of diplomatic relations.” Not only are art and art history valuable for cultural exchange and diplomatic relations, it also has the power to enhance life. Dr. Murck worked with the Luce Foundation to promote the teaching of Western art inside China, a move she explained was motivated by a greater need for the study of Western art than for Chinese art and by how presumptuous it would have been for Westerners to teach the Chinese how to study their own art. This reminded me of the missionaries’ efforts to do exactly that—teach the people whose countries they were living in how to live their lives; and in some ways, the course of 2 �Dr. Murck’s life is similar to that of the missionaries we discussed, as James and John mentioned yesterday in connection to their interviewee. But thankfully, as we can see in Dr. Murck’s description of the organization’s work, we have learned some lessons from history. 2 �My interview was a little different in that I interviewed Dr. Murck in person at her apartment in the city—the professor even lent me her video camera and tripod. Because it was an in person interview, the nonverbal cues were a little more readily apparent than they might have been otherwise. I noticed at the beginning of the interview that both our postures were a little tense—I was leaning forward in my chair because, as the interviewer, I wanted to look attentive—but, as the interview progressed, we both relaxed into more comfortable positions and stopped shifting around in our chairs. We had steady eye contact throughout as well. In terms of verbal cues, Dr. Murck began the interview by jokingly asking if the camera was too close and if her head was cut off in the video camera—and it was. After I set up the video camera again correctly, she complimented my first question (about how her parents had influenced her life) and said that it was something she had never thought to consider. For me, I hope that I seemed as interested and curious during the interview as I was—my major is art history and so speaking to an art historian about her life and her career was an amazing experience. I prepared about 15 questions before the interview that were organized chronologically; my intention going into the interview was to trace over Dr. Murck’s early life, education, and career, and then connect her life and work to the greater context of U.S.-Asia relations. She answered many of my questions with her 3 �response to my first question—I don’t know if that was because my question was too broad or the interviewee had the expectation that she should give this overall summary of herself first. Thinking that I would need to come up with questions on the spot, I was a little flustered but I went ahead and asked the questions she had answered with her first response anyway. She only traced over the arc of her life generally, so with my specific questions I was able to elicit more detailed, specific responses. That is one example of active listening from the interview. I think this interview was a very interesting experience in that it reflected many of the stories we have discussed over the course of the class but with modern perspectives and sensibilities. 3 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Murck, Alfreda ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_amurck_ppt_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Norzin, Tenzin Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Alfreda Murck http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/7869fe0fc41b98663f87e49cefbff757.pptx 991f08a6830a0e2fc191f68a471e348d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/ppt Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_cbrehm_master Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lynn, James ; Desmond, John ; Brehm, Carolyn Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Carolyn Brehm http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/5a137c5b87f1a519e44b485e096bc4db.pdf 4fc5ce42d8b675391d7c66e3da317609 PDF Text Text James Lynn John Desmond Final Project SECTION ONE Person interviewed: Carolyn Brehm Interviewee’s title or position: VP of Global Government Relations at Procter & Gamble Date, time, and length of interview: 11/21/16, 2:30 pm, 44 minutes Your objective in conducting this interview: Learning as much as possible about U.S Asian Relations through a person that lives and breathes it every single day. SECTION TWO We went to our favorite search engine and first typed in Carolyn Brehm and found a short biography about her, which we were fortunate to find. After seeing that she worked for General Motors and seeing her position there we researched General Motors to see what she was involved in. She also worked for ORBIS so we researched that and finally we researched what someone in her position does currently as the VP of Global Government Relations at Procter & Gamble. We prepared by reviewing the interview tips given to us by Professor Christoff. After preparing individually by coming up with our own questions to ask using the powerpoint as a guideline we met up to discuss how the interview would be run. List your interview questions. 1. What did you think you were going to be when you grew up? 2. Was there a teacher in high school or college who had a strong impact in your life, what can you tell us about them? 3. How did you become interested in East Asian Studies? 4. What was the very beginning of your career at General Motors like when Chinese markets had just opened up to American companies once again? 5. What difficulties, if any, have you experienced as a result of your gender? What difficulties, if any, have you faced working as an American in Asia? 6. How do you learn about your consumer audience and translate this information back to your company? 7. Why did you decide to leave GM? �8. Do you perceive any specific characteristics that women possess that allow them to be efficient leaders in the business of public and foreign relations? 9. How did you decide to work at ORBIS international, and what were the differences between working with an NGO as opposed to a company? 10. How have you helped to grow P&G’s business, and what are some of the key differences between Asian and American consumers of P&G products? SECTION THREE 1. Did you get complete answers to your questions? Explain - Yes, although the first few questions were answered with a smaller length than the rest of the questions, each question was taken seriously and each part of the question was addressed. At times Carolyn went on for around 7 minutes answering just one of our questions, and by doing so she shared stories and details that we had not directly asked about including her opinion of GM as a company and her experiences as an exchange student in Bombay in high school. 2. - Was your interview structured, unstructured, or mixed? Explain Our interview was more structured than mixed. Although we provided feedback throughout the interview by nodding our heads and occasionally sharing our opinion on what she had said, we stuck to our questions and only deviated towards the end when we felt one of the questions should be asked before another. John asked one question, “What was it like living in a third world country?” that was not part of our pre-interview questions. We felt this format was effective, and we noticed that Mrs. Brehm had previously gone over the questions and was ready to respond to all of them. 3. - What probing questions did you use? Explain One probing question was, “What was the very beginning of your career at General Motors like when Chinese markets had just opened up to American companies once again?”. This was a point of view probing question because we were interested in her perspective during this unique time in history that directly involved US-Asian relations. �During World War II and the Chinese revolution, most foreign companies from the West exited China and we knew from our pre-interview research that Mrs. Brehm was involved in setting up new offices for General Motors in the 1980s. By asking this question she informed us of her work with the US China Business Council, meeting her husband in China, the international trading climate at the time, and her role as a young employee of GM. - Another probing question we asked was, “How have you helped P&G’s business grow, and what are some of the key differences between the Asian and American consumers of P&G’s products?”. Mrs. Brehm found this question to be challenging because it made her consider her and her department's role within P&G, and also to think about her global consumer market that consists of ~5 billion people. This question was a clarifying question, because before conducting the interview we were still not completely sure what a global government affairs department does, and how it helps its respective business. She clarified that the way she helps her company grow is by advocating for legislation (for research, tax policy, advertising, engineering freedom), regulation (especially for Ecommerce), and public policy to protect both her company and the consumers. She also clarified that there is not such a great difference between different nationalities in purchasing patterns but rather that there are similarities in purchasing patterns amongst similar socio-economic classes across nations. 4. - Explain your team approach. That is, who did what? For the pre-interview research we both googled Mrs. Carolyn Brehm to see if we could discover anything about her. From there we both researched the companies GM, P&G and the NGO, ORBIS international to find out their purposes as institutions. While researching them we tried to find information about their roles in Asia and we were able �to find the most telling information about GM because of their history in China. John wrote most of the questions based off of the combined research that was completed and tried to ask questions that would allow Carolyn to tell stories about her personal and professional life, while James revised them and added a few of his own. For the interview itself James took the responsibility of explaining the purpose of our interview to Carolyn and in general he gave more feedback throughout the interview to let Mrs. Brehm know that we were engaged in the stories and information she was providing. We split the questions between us so that we would alternate when asking questions. For the oral presentation we also split the questions listed in the rubric and revised each other's answers. Finally for this written section we took turns transcribing the interview and answering the different sections. 5. Did the interviewee give you any documents or references to articles to read, or did she mention other people for you to talk to (or research)? Explain - No, Carolyn didn’t provide any documents to research. Her secretary just responded with some times that she was available to do the interview with us. We sent over the questions we had thought up so that Carolyn could prepare some responses before the interview and I think that this showed her that we did enough preparation and learned about her life enough to make those questions. SECTION FOUR In the interview we noticed that Mrs. Brehm’s volume was relatively low when telling us about her childhood and early influences. She became much more animated, speaking louder and moving her head more, as the interview went on and especially when she was talking about her time working at General Motors. From this we interpreted that she was truly passionate about her professional life. She put a great emphasis on the rapidly growing wealthy population in China, �as she brought up these consumers several times throughout the interview in response to separate questions. Finally, and most importantly, we noticed that after asking about her the challenges she faced as a woman her facial expressions were much different than the other questions. She pressed her eyebrows and made slightly uncomfortable movements with her lips. Upon analyzing the interview it seems that she is trying to be optimistic with her response. For example she notes that “It was hard,” working at GM being that it was a macho industry, but then talks about how it was more difficult to be young (and then smiles). Similarly she mentions that “It’s been a mixed bag” implying that she has experienced adversity as a result of her gender (of course!) but then quickly notes how lucky she is to work in companies like P&G who value diversity. For future interviews we recommend being very attent when asking about the challenges facing the interviewee as a result of being a woman. I believe we were naive to quickly accept her response without probing further. Also we recommend using Google Hangouts as opposed to Skype because there is less delay, and it makes for easier feedback without disrupting the conversation. Transcription of the Interview: Intro: Simple welcoming; James: Explains why we are conducting the interview with Carolyn. James: Question 1: What did you think you were going to be when you grew up? Carolyn: First memory is that I wanted to be a teacher and gravitated towards Journalism due to working on the school’s newspaper in high school. John: Question 2: Was there a teacher in your high school or college that had a strong impact in your life and what can you tell us about them? Carolyn: The first one was my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Ellison from Germany. Her husband worked for the United Nations and she would bring in her husband’s work that involved foreign policies. And her views of America as a newly emigrated women in the United States. In High �School I had Tom Rollins as a History teacher. He was a globalist and encouraged us, the students that were interested in foreign affairs, to think big. James: Comments on how interesting it is that Carolyn was exposed to the information and the ideas of “thinking big”. Carolyn: I grew up in the Suburbs of Philadelphia. Father was in World War II and I had some opportunities to travel at a young age. The international exchange experience was a big motivator for me. I was living with a family in Bombay at the age of 16. It was absolutely life changing. Realizing how different the world is out there and how fortunate we are as Americans. John: What was it like living in a Third World Country? Carolyn: It was a real eye opener, a really amazing experience. I lived with a family that was middle class by Indian standards and my Indian parents were both medical doctors. My Indian father’s medical clinic was across the train tracks. My Indian mother had her OB GYN specialist clinic inside of the house. The house had no bathroom plumbing, only screens in the windows. I keep in touch with the family even now. It was a life changing experience. James: Question 3: How did you become interested in East Asian Studies? Carolyn: When I was applying for college after graduating high school in 1973, I was really interested in studying Hindi and there was very few schools teaching Hindi, but there were far more schools offering Chinese and Japanese due to opening of U.S China Relations with President Nixon going to China. So I was inspired to study Chinese for the opportunities. Going to Georgetown University was great because they offered a 4 year Chinese program. I needed to pass a foreign language proficiency. It was very difficult to learn Chinese, the first year it was 2 hours a day, 5 days a week at 8am. James: Comments on difficulty of programming and learning Chinese. �John: Question 4: What was the very beginning of your career at general motors like when Chinese markets had just opened up to American companies once again? Carolyn: China at that time was a state controlled economy, and state owned trading companies were doing all of the business between foreign companies and chinese companies. I started out in the importer services and then moved to director of business advisory services and after six years. I ended up meeting my husband who was an American diplomat who was stationed in the US consulate in Guangzhou. He ended up coming back to the United States (laughter), we got married then we were both looking for a way to get back to China. GM made me the most interesting offer by far to actually set up an office for General Motors in China *which would be the first official office since 1949 when all of the foreign companies exited during the Chinese Revolution. I joined GM in 1984 and for two years basically ran the arm of the GM trading company which existed at the time to work with economies that didn’t have a lot of hard currency. The work that I did in the 2 years there was mostly buying products like twist drills, cotton work gloves for factories (globally) and pig skin for making leather seats, crazy stuff! It was fascinating, I learned a lot about supply chain issues. The biggest single deal was selling 20 Cadillac limousines to Zhao Ziyang, the Premier at the time. We set up an after sale service in Beijing. That all happened, the limos were delivered in 1985 and it was a pretty big deal. For GM particularly because it was the first Cadillac that was sold (in China) since 1949. James: Question 5: What difficulties, if any, have you experienced as a result of your gender? Carolyn: Well I would say I worked in the Auto Industry which is a pretty macho industry, especially then. It was hard, in a place like China. China under communist rule actually had a lot of women in positions of authority. But being young was probably more difficult than being a woman. Particularly in those days, I was in my late 20s early 30s and to be taken seriously you �needed to have grey hair. Over the years what I found is that in different roles in Washington, and overseas, that I’ve held there are subtle ways of discrimination that you feel. The glass ceiling in a lot of places really still exists. In Europe it’s less prevalent. It has been a mixed bag, but I have been very lucky to work for companies that are committed to diversity. James: There are many difficulties that Americans have had being missionaries in other countries (as women), we really had to ask that last question! Second half of Question 5: what difficulties if any have you faced working as an American in Asia? Carolyn: One example is when I was an exchange student in India. It was 1972 the year after the India-Pakistan clashes where the US sided with Pakistan, so Americans weren’t really popular. There was a sense of alienation. Comments here and there about being an American. Mostly the time that I’ve spent overseas, I’ve realized how much reservoir of goodwill there is among people around the world for Americans and the ability to separate Americans from American policy. I fear in the world that we live in today, that things aren’t quite so open minded. John: Question 6: How do you learn about your consumer audience and translate this information back to your company? Carolyn: At P&G we have this great mantra that consumer is our boss. We don’t do anything without understanding what HER wants and needs are (smile). Her because about 80% of our products around the world are purchased by women (smile). It’s my role to talk to our consumer market knowledge people so that we can then re-apply their information. The work we do in global government relations and public policy also depends a lot on building up messages that explain what positions we take on public policy issues and why and those messages need to be crafted in ways that people can understand. We have some NGO stakeholders, trade �associations, other companies, the retailers that buy our products and then sell them to consumers. The Chinese consumer is changing extremely rapidly, there is a huge demand for premium products. That consumer has moved up market extremely rapidly, even to the point at which our business is just trying to catch up and understand what she wants. E-commerce in China has exploded, 45% increase since last year it now accounts for 15% of our sales. John: Question 9: What was it like working for Orbis which is an NGO, how was it different from working in a conventional business? Carolyn: For one there tend to be fewer resources in the NGO world, they just tend to be much leaner organizations that I infact enjoy a lot. Where everybody roles up their sleeves and does a little bit of everything. The thing I enjoyed most about ORBIS was being able to bring my business skills, strategic planning + people development, to an organization that had grown so fast that they really had lost sight of some of the things you need to do to grow sustainably. There were couple of things at ORBIS I was also tremendously surprised about. In the business world you know who the competitors are. In a Washington or public policy setting, we work with competitors at P&G, you need them to join together to advocate for public policy! In the NGO world the NGOs with ORBIS were very reluctant to partner with anybody! For some of the same stupid reasons! For profit companies don’t like the idea, they don't want to share anything proprietary that might damage their leg up in the market place. In the NGO world they don't want to partner because it might mean somebody else getting a contribution or donation that they want. It’s all about money! They would fight with each other about stupid stuff! Completely loosing focus on why they are on the planet, to help serve, to help treat these particular problems. I was really disappointed. We did end up partnering, but it was too hard, unnecessarily hard! �James: Question 10: How have you helped grow P&G’s business, and what are some of the key differences between Asian and American consumers of P&G’s products? Carolyn: The way we help P&G grow our business, is to protect and grow it by advocating for sound legislation, regulation, and public policies that are good for the company and consumers. We deliver those kinds of benefits to the company by targeting: tax policy, trade policy, research & development, policies in companies, chemical ingredients and the regulation of those ingredients, sound, advertising, and marketing regulation. Dealing with the internet and digital marketing. The second part of your question; believe it or not, there aren't that many differences. Consumers everywhere want products that will keep their families clean and healthy and growing and strong. We manufacture in 70 countries and market in 180, so we basically serve in most of the world. Around 5 billion consumers use our products each year. So out of 7.5… James: That’s a large percentage! Carolyn: It is! So you know Asians and Americans both want fluoride in their toothpaste, they’ll also want toothpaste that provides the opportunity to keep their teeth whiter. For hair care products, this is a great example. We have the same product names in different companies, like Head & Shoulders, but the products may have different chemical formulations. The differences between Asia and America probably are less than the differences between the socio-economic levels of the consumer here and there. In China we have this 1+ consumer that is very wealthy, travels extensively, the world is at her fingertips and she shops using her mobile device and can buy from just about any place in the world. And then you also have consumers in China that are at a middle class or lower class level that are more likely to be purchasing products from P&G that we make locally that are really crafted more for the consumers of that level. That’s a long winded answer to a tough question. �John: Comments on the purchasing differences being between class and not nationality. Carolyn: Absolutely. James: Comments on the difference in hair product formulations. John: Question 8: Do you perceive any specific characteristics that women possess that allow them to be efficient leaders in the business of public and foreign relations? Carolyn: I don’t want to utilize too many stereotypes here, but I would say women in my experience tend to have more emotional quotient in addition to IQ, and the EQ helps to deal effectively with different situations. Reading body language, reading the situation in a way that helps with cross cultural situations. I also would say that women tend to be more consensus driven in terms of leadership styles which can be very helpful in a large organization that actually operates based on teams. Increasingly my feeling is that is much of corporate America now-a-days as opposed to command control. So I think women thrive in those situations, however I also think that women have challenges; we’ve heard them from Sheryl Sandberg from “Lean In” (Book Title). Women tend to lose confidence in situations like that, and really need to find their voice and speak up otherwise they can be suppressed in a team setting in a way that doesn’t completely take advantage of an individual’s capabilities. For global careers women have excelled. In my space in Washington DC, almost half of the heads of Washington offices for global companies in this town are women. That has changed a lot in 20 years. There were a handful, and now there are almost half of us. John + James: Thank you for your responses, Happy Thanksgiving! SECTION FIVE We both do not regularly study Women or U.S Asian relations in the classes required for our majors, so everything we learned from Carolyn was meaningful to us. Her stories allowed for �both of us to relate in a specific way. James was able to relate to Carolyn’s story that she told about the rigorous schedule she had in her early years at Georgetown University learning Chinese because he studies Computer Science and programming languages everyday. John was able to relate to her telling us about living abroad in Bombay because he was fortunate enough to live in Peru for a year while in high school. James particularly found it meaningful when she began discussing the opportunities she was fortunate enough to have in the early stages of her career. Both of us are graduating soon and going out into the “real” world, so hearing about Carolyn’s early ventures in China was very inspiring. She was able to break social barriers by being a woman not only involved in governmental affairs but also by being the representative and facilitator of financial logistics for a very macho business. Carolyn attended a very prestigious college and studied East Asian studies and Chinese; and in doing so established a strong professional foundation. In many ways she had to go above and beyond her male peers at the time to have a professional position that was similar to theirs. Also we noticed that her interests, especially in early life, were highly influenced by her gender. She was interested in being a teacher (a highly female dominated field), then journalism (also consisting of many females) and later language which is also a subject popular amongst women. The fact that she decided finally to go into business/foreign affairs shows that she shifted her goals throughout her life and decided to go against the current of what was considered acceptable for her as a woman in society. John found her perspective on the Chinese market and the companies she worked for, both previously and currently to be most interesting. She was critical of both GM and ORBIS international for being unwilling to partner with other organizations. When we asked her what characteristics women possess that allow them to be great leaders in her field, she responded that �women work better in team environments than men. I believe that her intuition to see that these companies needed to join together with other companies is directly related to the consensus driven thinking she referred to when talking about women’s advantages in her field. Also another meaningful aspect of the interview was seeing how a woman who was driven by personal goals, as were many missionaries, ended up bringing about and continues to implement changes in the area of US-Asian (business and policy) relations. Finally it was interesting to see how a modern woman in power was relating to her mostly female consumer audience. We both agreed that there isn’t much information that Carolyn provided that wasn’t particularly useful. She gave well thought out answers that were clearly prepared and contained specific important events from her life. She gave us all the information we needed and answered in ways that would peak our own interests and relate to us as college students. Carolyn didn’t use too much jargon that would take away from the responses, and she spoke in a very casual tone rather than a formal tone as if we were clients. Some additional questions we would have liked to ask are, if different formulations of hair care are used for different ethnicities globally then which formulations are being sold in diverse areas of the United States? Also, what do you think about the book “Lean In”? How has it changed your life and what do you disagree about from the text? If we were given more time for the interview, we would have liked to ask for Mrs. Brehm’s advice on how to best manage international relationships and what strategies work best for achieving effective results from projects that are based in teams. Finally we would have liked to ask her more about her personal adversities that faced her as a result of her gender. The other class presentations we thought were particularly useful were Lola, Kofi, and Yalda’s presentation with Sophie Richardson and Alex and Viviana’s interview with Alice �Young. We thought Sophie Richardson’s goal of removing discriminatory policies and practices that apply to ethnic minorities in China was really powerful, and it is a great example of an American woman helping with an Asian country's endemic social issues. Although we have discrimination of minorities in the United States as well, the ethnicities discriminated against in China are often confined to rural areas and they have difficulty being represented in the government. The fact that Ms. Richardson supports this cause shows that she has great courage, and we feel lucky as Americans to know that she is one of our representatives in China. Also we liked that she actively engaged the students interviewing her by addressing their names and interests. Alice Young’s role of explaining laws to foreign companies and having Asian’s voices heard made her a very unique interviewee amongst others because she is an Asian American representing and helping Asian companies within the United States. Her work ethic was impressive and even a bit intimidating! She stood out to us because despite her hard work she maintained a friendly attitude and wasn’t afraid to be flamboyant amongst her very serious contemporaries. The fact that she was making progress for Asians within the United States set her apart from the other women who were interviewed. She was inspiring because she is extremely successful in her career as a lawyer, and she also uses her success to carry out justice for those who may not receive it otherwise. Also she, like Carolyn, went above and beyond many of her male peers to reach her level of success and also followed a career path not typically assigned to women. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Brehm, Carolyn ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_cbrehm_doc_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lynn, James ; Desmond, John Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Carolyn Brehm http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/4767f3e46aecd6cc49abfe865ee15cb2.pdf da6f011d3c6803e9ee12591ed72148be PDF Text Text �Carolyn Brehm is currently the Vice President for global government relations at Procter & Gamble. She has previously worked as a Vice President of Orbis International and as a director of Asia Trade Policy and Strategies at General Motors for 14 years. She attended Georgetown University where she studied East Asian Studies/Chinese. She landed her first job at the US China Business Council where she was then offered a deal by GM to set up GM’s first office in China since 1949, when all of the foreign companies exited during the Chinese Revolution. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_cbrehm_ppt_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lynn, James ; Desmond, John ; Brehm, Carolyn Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Carolyn Brehm http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/31d44a310f38fe1f8828fda19f009b43.pptx f2c51d75faa40a2fa207d8efbe67d065 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/ppt Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_eennis_master Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Smith ; Ennis, Erin Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Erin Ennis http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/93d4ac6da8fe189e200bec46076fa684.pdf 3902730b87e2768821d9079dcb295723 PDF Text Text Smith (110259693) Final Report: Ms. Erin Ennis, Senior Vice President U.S-China Business Council I. Section One A. Person Interviewed: I interviewed Ms. Erin Ennis. B. Interviewee’s Title: Ms. Ennis is currently the Senior Vice President at the U.S China Business Council. C. Date, Time, and Length of Interview: My interview was completed on Friday, November 18th at 1:00 PM. The interview is strictly audio, due to Ms. Ennis’s work computer not having access to Skype, the audio file lasted twenty one minutes and thirty one seconds. D. Objective of the Interview: From the early research phases to executing the actual interview, my goal or objective was primarily to understand how women operate in terms of international trade relations, specifically in Asian American trade. I sought to accomplish this goal by exploring Ms. Ennis’s career from a student at the all-female school of Mount Holyoke College to her high position of power at the Council. Such a dynamic success story proved to me early on that Ms. Ennis’s work would help me better understand my goals of a woman’s role, specifically in such a position as hers, and how it operated within Asian and American trade relations. II. Section Two A. Description of the Pre-Interview Research and Interviewee’s Affiliations: Before narrowing my scope to ultimately outline my interview’s objective, heavy research on Ms. Ennis was needed to gain a background on her past career path and accomplishments. The first step I took was simply putting her name into Google. 1 �Smith (110259693) The results returned a great array of results, including images, videos, and biographies. First, I went on the US-China Business Council’s main site, where Ms. Ennis had a well-established biography. On the site I learned Ms. Ennis was appointed to her current position in February of 2015 and before that she served as a non-senior Vice President at the council from 2005. Here, I also found out more information about the council. The site, in regards to the Council’s purpose and background, stated, “Founded in 1973, the US-China Business Council provides extensive China-focused information, advisory, and advocacy services, along with comprehensive events, to nearly 250 US corporations operating within the United States and throughout Asia”. In addition, the biography detailed the large amount of experience Ms. Ennis had prior to her current position, outside the Council. Working in both the private and public sector, Ms. Ennis worked in the Office of the US Trade Representative, a legislative aide for former Senator John Breaux, Congressional Affairs, and lastly a strategist for Kissinger McLarty Associates, headed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and White House Chief of Staff Thomas McLarty. Throughout this time, Ms. Ennis’s focus on Asia was never wavered, in all of her past positions the focus seemed to be dominated by international relations in countries such as China, Japan, and Vietnam. Aside from her biographical page on the council’s website, another useful tool in gaining a perspective to her opinion on the women’s role was an alumnae spotlight of sorts on her previous institution, Mount Holyoke College, and their site. Here she detailed her experience at Mount Holyoke, an all-female institution, and how 2 �Smith (110259693) women’s colleges continue to prove and breed success stories in their graduates, specifically at Mount Holyoke. The last source I looked at was a video and short description of such done the University of Southern California’s Us-China Institute where Ms. Ennis was a keynote speaker at the event. Ms. Ennis’s panel of sorts discussed American Perceptions of the Business Climate in China. The video emphasized the fact that as Americans we often view such relations through a “tinted lens” more often than not a negatively influenced, misconstrued one at that. Overall the variety of resources available in both information and medium helped heavily influence the success of my pre-research in finding out about Ms. Ennis in preparation for my interview. B. Preparation for Interview To prepare for my interview I connected several of the identities and information I garnered to help formulate my questions, but more importantly narrowing the focus of interview. I explored mostly personal and career background information around Ms. Ennis and used such to craft the goals of my interview, rooted in the ideas of career progression and how being a woman either bolstered or hindered her in such. C. List of Questions (*Denotes not asked but in notes) 1. How do you think attending Mount Holyoke College, given that it is an allfemale institution, helped you in your current career? 2. How do you think your liberal arts education is beneficial to your current goals? 3. Why do you feel it is important for us to understand, even if it is a rough framework, the basics for American trade policy? 3 �Smith (110259693) 4. What is the greater functioning of the U.S-China Business Council to an outsider? 5. Could you tell me more on how your point of view is important in understanding the Chinese market, beyond what a job description might tell us? 6. China is a hot topic among the American public, do you believe American consumers who are not affiliated with you strengthen or hinder what you do for the American companies overseas? 7. Given that this a women in Asian relations class as well, do you feel that women, specifically those invested in China, are slighted in any type of way, or do you feel the gender wall is not that present in what you’ve experienced so far in your job? 8. In class, we discussed a theme of a “women’s work for women” how do you think women have paved the way for other women, specifically in terms of trade policy? 9. What do you see as your main goals as an individual or organization and how do you plan on expanding such moving forward? 10. *How do you think the election of President Elect Trump will cause you to alter your approach to your job, given some of the rhetoric?* 11. *What do you think is most important for Americans to understand in the complexity of Asian American relations?* 12. *Where do you think your biggest influence to pursue International Relations, was there a particular person or event that did so?* 4 �Smith (110259693) III. Section Three A. Did you get complete answers to the questions? Overall, Ms. Ennis gave very thorough and calculated answers. She would often elaborate and give great detail to her personal experiences, always concluding with some profound statement relating back to the question at large. The large amount of information was not just important in furthering conversation, but more importantly allowing me to clearly gain a very educational and diplomatic tone in completing my scope regarding career development and the impact womanhood has or had on such. B. Was your interview structured, unstructured, or a hybrid of the two? My interview was a hybrid or mixed structure interview, blending both uniformity and perspectives of my interviewee. While structure was present at times, the unstructured questions were more valuable in gaining Ms. Ennis’s true point of view and opinions on current and issues at large. C. What probing questions did you use? A majority of my questions were probing based, specifically point of view, informational, goals, consequences, clarification. Many of the questions were used to probe discussion toward my overall scope, but also served as a learning tool for me in finding out more about a topic I did not know much about and how a career in such looks, specifically for a woman. D. Explain your team approach. Given that I worked alone, I had the sole responsibility for all research, execution, and closing phases of the project. Although being able to rely on a partner in negative 5 �Smith (110259693) situations is often helpful, my preference and actuality in working alone was very successful in personalizing the project to my desired framework. E. Did my interviewee give me any other information to research or look at? Ms. Ennis did not give any explicit references to look at before or after the interview. Despite such, some of her answers allowed me to infer and possibly further investigate the work of other trade policy associations, as well as the policy itself, and lastly the ideas expressed in terms of Mr. Trump and his “confrontational approach” to policy. IV. Section Four: Interview In executing the interview, my initial feelings were very anxiety driven in that I felt unprepared, unqualified, and looked down upon. This was mostly rooted in the research I found was overwhelming and was hard to develop and stay composed initially, given Ms. Ennis’s high position of power. As mentioned, the main focus of the interview was looking at a progressive sequence of events from Ms. Ennis’s days as a student to now but more so the impact on such in conjunction with a focus on the role of womanhood in such. In discussing education, I began the interview citing her experience, based on outside research, at Mount Holyoke College, questioning the impact of an all-female education in her career. Ms. Ennis responded stating she applied to that institution first for the prestigious nature of the international relations and that was the principle reason in her applying, later in the question she remarked on how such education, given that it was all-female education did transform her, in this case for the better. Ms. Ennis stated, “The College is the oldest women’s college in the country, and given such it really prides itself in creating female leaders in a climate where we are taking charge and running the show on things.” 6 �Smith (110259693) Additionally, in terms of education another point of emphasis for Ms. Ennis was her emphasis on the versatility a liberal arts education can provide someone. She exclaimed such a degree was critical in her daily role and job, stating: “The liberal arts education is how I do what I do well and those who do not have that strong liberal arts background aren’t as successful as those who do possess such.” While this idea could be subject to other interpretations, such as the value of technical knowledge or education in being able quantify such information, the emerging trend during this section proved to place an emphasis on both liberal arts education as well its function in collaboration with an all-female institution in empowering Ms. Ennis to become the leader and success she is today in American Asian relations. The next area of focus, experience, gave me a better understanding of how Ms. Ennis’s experiences have shaped both her in her current positon but also the role in how woman have played in international trade relations. Ms. Ennis’s voice during this section was very passion filled, clearly showing her pride in what she has done for the field as well as the historical and contemporary implications of women versus men in such. Given this, the first points Ms. Ennis addressed was her introduction to trade as an aide for her Senator who served on the committee for international trade in the Senate. After giving me more context to her earlier involvements, she discussed her current role at the Council. She stated her main focus was “understanding on how operations need to take place in both China as well as the United States.” This was important in further developing her emphasis and calculated tone in showing her appreciation but seriousness toward her career. She later indirectly stated her current experience in working in international trade relations was not just important on the international level but also on the individual level to all Americans. Arguing, “I believe those 7 �Smith (110259693) issues are important: everything we buy, eat, use has some angle to international trade, whether we know it or not. That’s everything from the parts in your cellphone to your use of credit cards overseas, all of that is due to international transactions.” These opinions and focus on current experience also prescribed the probing to address how, if it was, international trade policy was gendered or not. Ms. Ennis stated that early on when such policy was a new formulation, women often dominated the scene, empowering them as these “silent or invisible” policy drivers, I later interpreted at the conclusion of the interview. Ms. Ennis continued to argue that trade policy is very black and white, not in terms of male and female approach, but more so approach to such. She stated, “That is an issue I am personally torn on. I don’t think I view the world any differently than my male counterparts do.” However, during this time, Ms. Ennis’s cool and calculated tone broke a bit in discussing how policy was acted on, reaffirming the point we have seen time and time again of women as those behind the scenes and men being those in the more visible sphere, her new tone appeared a bit more cynical. She also seemed to reiterate such a tone when discussing similar topics when working on teams, and how certain female members of her staff might suggest certain proposals and it be immediately shot down but if a male counterpart were to do it shortly after it was often widely accepted by colleagues. The areas Ms. Ennis brought forth the most substance in terms of her current experiences once again brought up trends in terms of our in class discussions, specifically along policy lines. Like any point, such ideas could be refuted or interpreted differently if some antagonists were to argue the idea that some women are often very successful in terms of visible negotiation, examples may include Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren. 8 �Smith (110259693) The overall points on the importance of her role in terms of general logistics of her job day to day combined with the application of an added element, being a woman, proved to be informative in gaining a unique perspective on such topics. This distinction between male and female interaction, combined with Ms. Ennis’s revelations and stress on education as a tool for empowerment but also her current experiences were important in understanding her role and what she currently holds as important to the overall functioning and success of her job. Additionally, this interview made me understand the importance of knowing your audience as well your research. In part due to my nerves, I asked Ms. Ennis to reiterate easily obtainable information; however, this was very minor in terms of the audience factor. Being able to read emotion is not easy. I recommend to fully understand the intricacies of how women operate in international trade relations or as a whole in Asian American relations, specifically as a male, to try to actively listen not just to the words but more so the tone and attitude in seeing how the interviewee feels more so than says about such topics. V. Section 5: Analysis A. What aspects of the interview did you find to be particularly meaningful? Two aspects of the interview truly hit home with me. The first, the value of a liberal arts education and second, the way in which she was so impacted by the election President Elect Trump, making the interview significant in another, more contemporary light. The value of liberal arts education is something I am very proactive and vocal about both here on campus and in life. Her analysis of the skills it provides, in the real world, proved to be an answer I appreciated in that I too am pursuing a liberal arts 9 �Smith (110259693) degree in the area of relations and policy. Her support for such allowed the interview to become more personal for me and really make me appreciate both the interviewee and myself in a different light. Moreover, the contemporary relevance of her answers regarding the election of Donald Trump as forty fifth President of the United States served a similar function for me in helping the interview become more personable, balancing the formality of the answer but appealing to my interests as well. I appreciated her bluntness in describing how such an event immediately impacted her, proving the significance of these relations as they live and breathe around us even if not explicit in their understanding. Overall, the aspects of the interview I enjoyed the most, aside from her thoroughness and great information, was the allowance of such to become more connected to me, even if it was not her intention. B. What aspects of the interview were not useful? The struggle to connect with Ms. Ennis was very nerve-wracking prior to the interview; however, this did not prove to be my small yet primary concern. I truly wish I could have had a video stream to see more of the non-verbal cues. While different levels in volume or tones proved to be beneficial, actually having visuals on observing such is very important and gives a new perspective to the process. Additionally, one thing I wish I had done was a more thorough research process in that I sometimes needed clarification on her prior experience in that I misinterpreted her biography once or twice. 10 �Smith (110259693) C. What more would you like to know Given the execution of the interview and the ideas it revealed, some information was left ambiguous. One of the most pressing details I wanted to know was what the specific driver in pushing Ms. Ennis to take up a career in international trade policy. I was also interested in what she could see as one motivator moving forward to change policy in the future. D. What presentations did you find to be particularly useful and why During class one of the most beneficial things to see was the diversity of people interviewed, from peace activists to theatre performers, the differences in people was significant in gaining a more wholesome perspective of Asian American relations. Some of the most impactful presentations for me included: Lauren’s on her grandmother, Matt and Alejandra’s on Hodei Sultan, and lastly Nida’s on Norah Shapiro. Lauren’s project was useful in showing a very personal side to the interview in that her woman was related to her. Although her grandmother was one of thousands of nurses during World War II, the contrast from many of the other women that were presented about. Given that she was related to her, the very human element showed, in my opinion, a very unique point that many of us could not experience. The primary resources accessible to Lauren were so unique and truly bolstered the overall aesthetic of the presentation in showing that some of the most impactful women don’t necessarily have to be the most present. Next, Matt and Alejandra and their presentation on Hodei Sultan was a very eye opening presentation for me. The role of Sultan to work and reshape her identity as an 11 �Smith (110259693) Afghan and make it her career was extraordinary in my eyes. The goal to create a “world without conflict” was one of the most impactful lines throughout this whole process and to try to achieve such by breaking stereotypes was something I only see as a speculation, not a mission. Furthermore to educate individuals on refugee culture I think also was important in proving this presentation’s usefulness in relating to real world issues and making them a reality. The last presentation I found extremely useful in emphasizing diversity was Nida and her presentation on Norah Shapiro, the former public defender, who now is a private film maker. Nida’s emphasis in relaying the importance of local community and understanding such was something that was very impactful because sometimes, despite being a white straight male, sometimes I feel I am misunderstood in communities I am passionate about, which may deviate from the norm among people my age. Aside from the personal connection, the resiliency in changing direction in terms of career is something I highly admired and something I can manage to do, keep an open mind about change. In conclusion, all the presentations were significant to explaining the diverse and complex field of Asian American relations and how any woman CEO or wartime nurse can change this balance for the better. 12 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ennis, Erin ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_eennis_doc_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Smith Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Erin Ennis http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/902088bb071453dfb84ec48066f069c1.pdf 6c8a6d4bbee3a0e5df2d1cdf722ece46 PDF Text Text Erin Ennis is the Senior Vice President of the U.S China Business Council. An American citizen by birth, Ms. Ennis looks to, in conjunction with the Council, to help companies already invested in China navigate and understand the current climate of policy and statue in areas that may not be directly specific to that specific American company or companies. Ms. Ennis looks to navigate and engage the two nations in specific trade policy issues such as employment or product regulation. Ms. Ennis believes that understanding trade is essential because “everything we buy eat, and use has some angle to international trade”. Her current goals, given the recent election is to reinforce in the currently elected administration of some of the basic principles of diplomatic trade in China should be based on engagement rather than confrontation. While these goals are completely distinct in their overall purpose, the approach is what reminded me of other aspects of Asian American relations, specifically in the United States’ female missionary agenda. The diversifying approaches to spread the word of God all had different degrees of success and action, yet the ones which proved most successful were ones more so on engagement rather than confrontation and force. While the missionary practices have been outdated for some time, Ms. Ennis’s comments on approach were important in connecting it back to other topics of influence discussed in this class. While this idea helped connect the interview to other class topics, such ideas also gave me a new 1 �outlook on diplomacy and trade. I always assumed the United States was much more confrontational, originally a negative in my eyes, rather than engaging. That being said, Ms. Ennis’s comments on how such trade relations were campaigned upon would ultimately be a much more confrontational frameset, a failure if executed. Ms. Ennis repeatedly discussed and therefore informing me, the power of engagement to best deal with American and Chinese trade relations. She emphasized that if such were to become more confrontational, her goals of preserving engagement as the best means of interacting would quickly switch to preventing a trade war. Overall, Ms. Ennis’ goals and beliefs helped both reconnect me to prior elements of the class but also apply it to a greater context of something, international trade, I know very little about. 1 �The questions I asked Ms. Ennis were divided into two categories: early background and its influence but more so her career and the direction it has taken, is in now, and what it will be in the future. Ms. Ennis addressed issues of gender, the power of liberal arts, and specific aspects of what her career entails. In referencing gender, playing to the course title of Women in Asian American relations, Ms. Ennis believed that in the past foreign trade policy and even today the way of thinking of policy direction is not determined by gender or sex. Such thinking on foreign trade policy is very black and white, you’re either for or against it. However, Ms. Ennis was not shy in telling me the way gender has impacted her job environment currently and in the past. The first point she brought up related to how in the past, foreign trade policy was of greater interest to females than males, until recently. Despite this; however, she did acknowledge that men today are the ones who typically outweigh females in the actual debate and physical interaction with such. This idea connected me to the belief of women as “invisible policy drivers” as we have previously mentioned. Moreover, Ms. Ennis’s emphasis on a strong liberal arts background in her career could be applied to both then, now, and in the future. She explicitly stated her background with a strong liberal arts education makes her very well qualified in standardizing her approach to contextualizing, interpreting, and arguing policy. She stated, I personally believe those skills are the most natural to have in the world”, in 2 �reference to a strong liberal arts background for both her and also future employees interested in the similar job responsibilities she is in. Lastly, detailing specific aspects of her career were important in understanding both her function but more importantly the context of how significant trade associations interact to preserve the delicate yet intertwined economies of the United States and China respectively, in sectors which may not align normally. Verbal cues were most notably her answers, yet the nonverbal cues sometimes were indicative of much more. At times needing to clarify or adjusting from my original question was significant in making it much more personal and gave me much more insight about Ms. Ennis. Furthermore, while video lacked in this interview, different levels of vocal volume portrayed what she was passionate and easily able to explain, versus more serious tones at times suggested hesitancy. Despite that, Ms. Ennis appeared to be a very qualified and calculated professional, so different tones were sometimes hard to read, yet she seemed to appreciate the basis for the project and my questions. This interview was conducted via an audio recorder on my computer on November 18, 2016 at 1:00 PM. The interview lasted twenty one minutes and thirty one seconds. I worked independently, so I recorded and talked. 2 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Ennis, Erin ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_eennis_ppt_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Smith Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Erin Ennis http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/bce347696b6aaa44bb072be4688faff9.pptx b5b89827d139bb94856a6e14b522cc95 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/ppt Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_hkolenda_master Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Winters, Kristen ; Ozdal, William ; Kolenda, Helena Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Helena Kolenda http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/WUA/files/original/54c918ade4f74a685a83ffab84e73c9c.pdf 0b11d61e6b9149a732bda70a159311a8 PDF Text Text Kristen Winters William Ozdal SECTION ONE: Person interviewed: Helena Kolenda Interviewee title: Director for the Henry Luce foundation’s Asia program Date/Time/Length: November 21st/10:05am/1:01:40 Objective for conducting interview: Gathering a better understanding of what Ms. Kolenda does within the Henry Luce foundation and to better understand the role that both Ms. Kolenda and the foundation play in U.S. Asian relations. SECTION TWO: Prior to our interview with Ms. Kolenda, we conducted some preliminary research on her as well as the Henry Luce foundation and its Asia program. This preparation allowed us to ask more specific questions which took a more in depth approach to Ms. Kolenda’s life and work experiences. For instance, going into the interview, we knew that Ms. Kolenda had spent time in China between 1981 and 1996 as a volunteer English teacher and later was hired as a paralegal for a law firm in Beijing. In addition, we were aware that shortly after she returned to America she was hired in 1998 as a program officer for the Henry Luce foundation’s Asia program. She worked as an officer for ten years until she was appointed to director of the program in 2008 which is the title she still holds today. In terms of the Henry Luce foundation’s Asia program itself, we were aware through prior research that it pursues the two goals of fostering culture and intellectual exchange between the United States and Asia and creates scholarly resources which look to improve the understanding of Asia within the United States. In addition to conducting �prior research, we also prepared a few questions in advance which we sent to Ms. Kolenda via email so she had an idea of what approach we would be taking. The questions we based our interview off of which includes the ones we sent to Ms. Kolenda in advance are as follows: Biographical/Background - What is your name and current job title. - Tell me about your family, what professions did/do your parents hold. Are they in similar fields? - Education (public/private school and higher education) - What was your first job, did it influence where you are today? - Did you do any kind of internships/volunteer work before working with the Henry Luce Foundation? (Time in China) - What nations in Asia have you visited, can you tell me about the impact of U.S. – Asian relations within them? Foundation - How did you come in contact with the Henry Luce Foundation? - Have you held any previous positions in the foundation? Do you have any plans to change positions in the future? - What would you say, is the most satisfying aspect of your job? - What are some of your most accomplished successes with the foundation? - What are some of your failures, and what did you learn from them? - Have you ever met any memorable people through your foundation work? - Has this political season effected the way that your foundation has been supported? �Future - What are your future goals for both yourself, and the foundation? - Where do you see the foundation going, after you have retired? SECTION THREE: 1. Did you get complete answers to your questions? - Ms. Kolenda answered our questions fully, even expanding on many of them, providing us with a great deal of opportunities to ask follow up questions. 2. Was your interview structured, unstructured, or mixed? - It was mixed. While we had a list of questions prepared to ask Ms. Kolenda, even sending a few to her in advance so that she could have an idea of what we would be discussing, the conversation took a more natural path. This unplanned path allowed us to not only ask questions from the list we prepared, but also to delve deeper into questions that we had not previously thought of. 3. What probing questions did you use? - At one point Ms. Kolena was talking about how the foundation receives money, through their endowment, which allows them to not worry about fundraising, and to focus only on giving back to the public. 4. Explain your team approach. That is, who did what? - Our approach to conducting this interview was to ask Ms. Kolenda questions and allow the conversation to progress naturally. We didn’t really have specific roles during the interview, although we did make a point to ask specific questions that we had come up with ourselves. �5. Did the interviewee give you any documents or references to articles to read, or did she mention other people for you to talk to (or research)? - Near the end of our interview, Ms. Kolenda recommended a book given to her by a dear friend of hers Dr. Wang Zheng titled : “Finding Women in the State: A Socialist Feminist Revolution in the People's Republic of China, 1949-1964”. Ms. Kolenda also invited us to visit her in NYC to tour the foundation and meet the people who work there! SECTION FOUR: Interview Transcript Will: Please state your name and title for the record. Helena: Hi I am Helena Kolenda, I am the program director for Asia at the Henry Luce foundation. Will: We wanted to start off by getting a little background about you. Maybe early life as a child, if that had any influence on your life today in terms of working with the Henry Luce foundation. Growing up as a young woman, can you tell us a little bit about (your) family life such as parents and siblings? Helena: I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. My mother worked in the medical center, supporting research by different doctors in things like genetics and psychiatry. Her last position was assistant to the president of MD Anderson cancer hospital. My father was a professor at Rice University in the philosophy department. My parents were divorced when I was quite small. My father remarried a professor who was an anthropologist and her area of research was India. So, I grew up in a background of academics. My mother was not an academic but she did work in that type of research area. I traveled a lot when I was small with my father in the summers because he and my stepmother Pauline Kolenda would have sabbaticals and they liked to spend the sabbaticals travelling so I was lucky to get exposed to travel as a youngster. And because of the �stepmom’s work in India, I also had the opportunity to spend a little time in Asia starting with a trip when I was sixteen. I went with her to India but on the way to India we stopped in Japan and Hong Kong. I was already in high school beginning to get interested in East Asia philosophy, particularly Buddhism, and through the poetry that linked to zen, I got interested in different languages, Chinese in particular. So, I ended up studying Chinese at the University of California Berkeley. Will: We know you spent about ten years in China working as an English teacher and working with volunteers. Did you spend time in other countries doing similar work? Or was it just China? Helena: In terms of working, I was really only in China. I have travelled to many countries in Asia but have only worked in China. I have live in Taiwan for a year also as a student. Will: Do you speak Chinese? Helena: I do. Will: Aren’t there multiple Chinese languages? I know there is Mandarin and others, how does that work? Helena: I speak Mandarin, there are different dialects. Cantonese is the other big one which is spoken in South China, Hong Kong, and the Guangdong province. Taiwan also has what's called (unclear) dialect which is from the province of Zhejiang(?) because a lot of people initially went to Taiwan from Zhejiang(?) province, they migrated there over many centuries and took the language with them. But I speak Mandarin which is the official language of the People’s Republic. Kristen: In terms of the ten years that you spent working in China, I read that you were not only an English teacher but you were also an attorney. I was wondering if there were any challenges you may have faced in landing those jobs, particularly based off your gender? �Helena: As a volunteer English teacher, the organization I went with, Volunteers in Asia, was in the early eighty’s when gender issues were a sensitive topic. People who were chosen for the volunteer positions was based off who applied. So, a lot of women applied but there were no hurdles in that, I just assumed I was going to get chosen and I was. There was a lot of sensitivity within the organization to gender issues but culture more generally because it was encouraging people to spend time overseas. And so we were talking not only about our roles as Americans but also how we would interact with men and women in Asia as well because of different cultural expectations. When I applied to work for the law firm in Beijing as a paralegal initially, the woman who hired me in that office, was a woman so she was quite supportive. Her boss, professor Jerome Cohen, was a bick figure in the Chinese legal studies field. He had taught at Harvard for many years before he went back into private practice with the lawfirm because at that time it was difficult to do field research in China. But as an attorney in a moment when China was opening up to foreign investment, he could go in representing foreign companies and it was a way to do field work, hands on investigations through the negotiations that he was involved with. He also was a very open person so I never felt that my gender was counted against me in any of the jobs that I have had. Sometimes in Asia, not so much in China, but in other parts of Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea particularly in the earlier years, I think there was a sense that women should not be taken quite as seriously as men, particularly younger women. So, I was never treated with overt disrespect but there were times when I did have a feeling that the people I was working with on the other side of the table would have preferred to be interacting with a man rather than with me. Will: Do you think that is worse? The passive feeling? Would you have rathered those feelings be in the open so you could have that conversation as opposed to it just lingering in the darkness? �Helena: I don’t think at that time it would have been possible to have that conversation. Had it been an obstacle to the work I was trying to do then I probably would have had a phrase but I was fortunate enough that it never occurred. Will: When exactly did you start working with the Henry Luce foundation? Helena: I joined the Luce foundation in 1998. Will: So it was shortly after your time in China. Helena: Yea, I came back from China in 1996. I had a daughter and I stuck it out one more year in New York and it was very tough. It was hard work, brutal lifestyle which was not very family friendly so I decided that I needed to make a change and I was lucky enough again through my boss, Jerome Cohen, who knew people at the Luce foundation, he knew I was looking for a change. So he said why don’t you go over, they are looking for a program officer, why don’t you go talk to them. Will: So that is how you started with the foundation? You became a program officer in the Asian program? Helena: That’s right. Kristen: It says that in 2008 you were appointed to the position of director. What were the types of things you had to go through to get that appointment as director from officer? Helena: Well I worked for ten years as program officer and my boss at that time who was the director retired. They could have hired somebody from the outside but because I had been there for ten years and certainly knew the landscape of the work we were doing, I guess they had enough confidence in me to step into that role. Will: How many officers are there? �Helena: Our total staff is twenty. We have five different programs in the office: American, art, theology, higher education, Asia women in science and engineering. So not a large group. Will: How does the higher education aspect differ from the others? Are they different/similar? Helena: The thread that runs through all of our programs is scholarship in one way or another. The Asia program is the only program that is geographically focused and that has to do with the history of the Luce family. The senior Luce’s were missionaries in China. Henry R. Luce, their son, was born and raised in China and then he came back and made a lot of money in Time magazine and established the foundation to honor his parent’s work. The family had this sense that not only did they go to be missionized in China, mainly in the area of higher education, but when they returned to the west, they really wanted to share what they had learned about Asia to Americans. So that is why we have an Asia program that has a geographic focus. But all of the other programs have some kind of thematic focus. The higher education program works primarily with higher education institutions in the United States and a lot of our other programs also work in the United States. Will: With the Asia program I know you give scholarships out. Are there any other aspects to the program? Do you work with Asian Americans for certain projects? Do you help Asian Americans in Asia? Is there more than just giving scholarships? Helena: The part of the program I work on is not the scholar part. We have a Luce Scholars program which sends eighteen young Americans to Asia for a year of experiential placement. They work in some kind of job but it is not an academic scholarship, it is more of a experiential, cultural placement in an organization in Asia. That is an individual fellowship program. The rest of what we do, which I direct, is grants to institutions. So colleges and universities primarily in the U.S. receive them to support teaching and research on Asia but also we do fund some �institutions in Asia, typically for collaborative work that involves America in one way or another. We do some policy work, supporting think tanks that are involved in research about Asia or in policy dialogue, what we call track two dialogues with Asian counterpart. So most of the work that we do involves collaboration and exchange with Asian partners, although most of the grants that we make are U.S. based but we see it as a two way flow which clearly involves participants from the other side. When you talk about Asian’s in America, certainly many Asian Americans are involved in the projects we support. In academia, for many decades, there has been a split between Asian studies and Asian Americans studies. Asian American studies has been put into a basket of ethnic studies or cultural studies. Interestingly, those two are coming together now within scholarship because there are so many flows between the United States and Asia and there are what people call transnational Asian studies or diasporic studies because there are just so many connections between Asia and Asia America. So the grants that we give involve graduate student fellowships or other opportunities for Asian Americans as well as others. Will: Do you see any danger in the future with the recent election of Donald Trump as President of the United States? Particularly from the view of possible isolationism and your work with Asia. Helena: It is something that is a little bit too early to tell what will happen. I think we are concerned that if the U.S. moves toward a more isolationist position that there may be more challenges for our work as it goes back to the Bush Administration and even back to the mid-90s, there is something called Title Six which provides congressional funding to the department of state and to the department of education for international and area studies programs. Starting in the mid-90s and again in 2011, there were big congressional cuts for that funding. That funding goes to universities, usually research universities, to support national research centers on �different world areas. So it supports language training, the library work, big centers for East Asian studies and Southeast Asian studies, all different areas. The cuts were quite extreme. For example, in 2011 the cuts took about 50%. So those centers then have less money for teaching languages, supporting graduate students in doing other work, or outreach for K-12 education about Asia because there is no money. These Federal cuts were also accompanied by cuts at the state level to the state universities at least and the universities themselves have been crushed. In 2014, the amount of money was raised again but we are anticipating that Congress may again try to slash budgets like that and that could impact international studies and education. The role of a private foundation is that we can come in and try to fill gaps but we can’t fill the gap of Federal funding. Our Federal budget for Asia is no more than eight million annually, and you are looking at multi million dollars that go from the Federal government to all of these teaching and research centers around the country. Kristen: In terms of the budget cuts, I saw that in 2010 the Henry Luce foundation came out with the Luce Initiative on Asian studies and the Environment and I was wondering how the budget cuts could have affected the implementation of that and how it has affected the foundation as a whole and where it is bringing the foundation in the future? Helena: We are a private foundation and our funding comes from an endowment that was established initially when Henry Luce gave Time magazine stock to set up the foundation. Time isn’t doing so well anymore but for many years that stock was worth a lot and the endowment grew and we have an investments management that manages the fund so we don’t have to fundraise at all. We rely totally on our endowment, which of course is affected by the stock market which can go up and down. We were hit really badly in 2001and again in 2008. Foundations by law have to give away about 5% of the annual average of its endowment. Our �endowment is about eight hundred million and we would need to give away roughly forty million each year. For Asia specifically, we usually have between seven and eight million. We are allowed to do that without having to pay tax on the endowment, except for a very modest task because this 5% giving is seen as a public good within the public interest. The politics can affect us through the effects of the stock market so the endowment can go up and down. The Luce Initiative on Asian studies and the Environment was a special grant competition. It’s a five year competition that was aimed at trying to encourage more conversation between Asianists on campus and people in other fields that typically had less opportunity to engage in Asia stem fields and there seemed to be a need to have people talking to one another to promote more awareness of Asia among environmental studies people since Asia and the U.S. are big players for prospective climate change and other environmental issues. On the other hand, to have Asianists more aware of environmental issues. The grants for that program go to liberal arts colleges. So there endowments can be hit by the stock market but they are not recipients of the Federal funding, they don’t get Title Six funding, that is only for universities. So our reason for starting that initiative was not based too much on economic issues in the sense of trying to assist with college budgets but more so to try and encourage work in more interdisciplinary work in an area that we think is important for the future. Will: Has there been any talk of fundraising and donations? Does the foundation particularly want to stay away from that? Helena: We are considered a private foundation as opposed to an operating foundation. Operating foundations do fundraise so I think we could do that if our board of directors felt there was a need to do so but it would probably mean changing our status. Will: Are there any failures that you can specifically recall within the foundation? �Helena: Early on, the foundation was made up of a smaller, less professional staff. In the eighties, the foundation made an effort to professionalize the staff and have people who were subject matter experts in the work that we covered. Before, a lot of decisions were made by a smaller group of people many of whom were linked to the Luce family. We are not a family foundation, we are a private foundation so the decisions are not made by the family, they are made by our court. Also the grants early on were much smaller. As the endowment grew, there was a feeling on the board that we needed to professionalize the staff. Those of us who were hired now do have some background in the area we cover. So based off our research and interaction with people in the field, our staff will come up with ideas for initiatives that we think are important and will then make a proposal to the board. We have two types of grantmaking which are responsive grants which respond to inquires from the field. So we have three board meetings a year and we get inquiries all the time from colleges, universities, think tanks, and a wide range of non-profits because all of our grants need to go to non-profits. So we have a process here reviewing these requests. As a program staff, we take the ones that we think have the most merit and also fit within our budget and we recommend them to our board for funding. So that category of grants is responsive in that it's the field telling us what is important and that they need help achieving their goals. The other part is something that we determine is important. We set the guidelines, it’s a grant competition so there’s an RFP to request for proposals usually among a universe of institutions that we consider eligible for that project and then institutions apply to participate in the competition. So these two ways of grant making work in concert. The responsive grants help us know what is going on in the field and that info helps us determine what we will do in the special grant competition. One reason we were interested in Asian environment is because we were seeing this growing interest in environmental studies as well as �a growing interest in Asian studies and why not put those together. So the failures can happen along two lines. One can be that a proposal that we think is very viable might not turn out that way, sometimes for reasons beyond the control of the people who brought it to us or a change in a political situation. For example, in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square protest and the resulting crackdown there were a lot of collaborations between American and Chinese scholars that we were supporting. A few of those were not able to continue because of the politics in China. Sometimes projects fail because one of the key people in the project leaves and goes somewhere else and sometimes the idea itself may not pan out to be as viable as it was in the beginning. With respect to the special initiatives, the staff prepares a proposal to our board. The board must approve and only after that can we send out proposals and work to make those grants. Sometimes that process involves the board not liking the proposal which can result in a slowdown and a lot of work to try and convince the board to pass it. We also have another initiative on religion and international affairs which is worldwide and not related to Asia alone. It looks at the fact that in international affairs, people have traditionally not looked at religion as a factor. Partly because of the separation of church and state in American government. In religious studies, people are not really focusing on international relations. But if you look at the world today, there are so many instances when those two communities need to be talking to one another and understanding the ramifications of each other’s work. This initiative took the board some time to agree to the parameters of its design. Kristen: Are there any personal accomplishments or accomplishments of the foundation overall that particularly stood out to you and that you found the most fulfilling or successful? Helena: The Asia and the Environment Initiative is something that I am personally excited by and proud of. It is still underway, we are just about to make the fifth year of grants. But I have �done a lot of site visits to the campuses to see the work unfold. Each grant is a four year grant so there are opportunities to see it from the start up phase through implementation and how it’s affecting research, course development, student research, study abroad opportunities, and interaction with counterparts in Asia. Prior to this time we also had an initiative for five years on archeology and early history in Asia. The reason we had that was because we were hearing from the field that there were some scholars around North America who were doing work on Asian archeology but there were no strong programs for training a new generation of archaeologists to work in Asia. This is at a moment when every time you put a shovel in the ground you would recover some site with centuries of history. There’s a problem with development of sites being displayed, looting, and all sorts of threats to the material that’s coming out of the ground and yet this material that is being studied is telling us so much more than we knew about the history of China for example. So it seemed like there was a need to encourage more development of that field and over five years we funded ten new faculty positions and a lot of collaborative research. We funded fellowships for North Americans and Asians to spend time in each other’s countries working with other archeologists. I think the fruit’s of that initiative are something that I am quite proud of. Will: When you say you visited sites, you are talking about different college campuses that are receiving these grants and implementing them into their programs. Does the foundation have any influence on what specific colleges implement that or do they propose it to you and you approve it through that process? Helena: Once it is approved then we are fairly hands off, we defer to the institutions, they put forward a plan and we honor the fact that they are the ones on the ground and know what is happening the most. Where we might have more influence is at the proposal stage where there is �a lot of back and forth with the applicants to refine a project, ask questions so that we understand what needs to be done and based on our experience we might say that we have seen things similar to what you are proposing and ended up not working too well and you might want to tweak it a little bit. It is a conversation and after a grant is made, there is a proposal and there is this beautiful plan but in reality it is a lot messier. We might need to revise the budget or reshape it throughout the process and accommodate the needs. Typically, unless something is really going wrong, we just take a step back and let them do the work. Kristen: Have you met any memorable people that would stick out most in your mind? Helena: I have had the chance to meet former President Jimmy Carter who came to our office and was doing work in China through the Carter center on village elections in the 90s. The secret service had to come to our office first to check everything out. He is such a gracious and inspiring person so that was exciting. Some of the work we do involving policy, these track two dialogues I was talking about, that involve policy makers from the U.S. and Asia and different kinds of dialogue. In one of those I got to meet the former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and see her at work. On the other end, people in Asia who are doing incredible work. One women I met a few years ago in Burma is matida(?) who was a Burmese surgeon, writer, and human rights activist who was a prisoner of conscience. There was a military gupta in Myanmar that was in control for many decades until recently now that there are democratic elections and things are quite different. For many decades the military was pretty repressive and this surgeon wrote about her concerns about the way people were being treated and she was put in prison for six years in solitary confinement for most of that time. She said the only thing that kept her alive was the fact that she did Buddhist meditation everyday. Because of her writing she has been awarded a number of different prizes. She has now been released and is working in �Myanmar again and she is on the Pen international program which is an organization which tries to defend writers who are under attack in different countries around the world, she is a member of their board because they supported her when she was in prison and wrote letters on her behalf and advocated for her release. So she is a very inspiring woman. One other example is this last summer I met Keiko Oguda(?) who is a eighty year old survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. With our Luce scholars group in Japan this summer we went to Hiroshima and had a chance to go to the museum there after President Obama had been there and they had a display case with the speech that he had given and also two paper cranes that he had folded which represent peace. The survivor we got to meet was eight years old when the bomb dropped, she survived because her family lived a couple of kilometers outside of the epicenter. She gave us her statement about her experience at that time and then afterward. She was the most cheerful, kind individual you could imagine in spite of the fact that she had such a horrific experience. Will: What are your personal goals for the future and goals for the foundation? Where do you see the foundation going in the future? Helena: One initiative that we are considering right now is on Southeast Asia. We have a longstanding interest with Southeast Asia beginning in the eighties in the wake of the Vietnam war there was a lot of disappointment, anger, frustration which led to a drying up of the field within American higher education. So in the late eighties and early nineties we invested a fair amount in providing support for new faculty divisions or library development or graduate education for collaborative research to help strengthen the field of Southeast Asian studies and that made a big difference. As I mentioned earlier, there is sort of a boom bust cycle with congressional funding for area studies and because Southeast Asian languages don’t get huge enrollments in universities, it is easy for universities to cut those programs. It is valuable to study �other countries, cultures, and histories for the lessons they can give us and for expanding our understanding of the rich variety of human experience. However, it comes to the attention of policymakers at moments of a crisis such as 9/11 when no one was able to speak arabic and all of a sudden there needed to be a placement of money of arabic studies and Russian studies had declined after the fall of the Soviet Union but now Russia is becoming an increasing threat so we need to train Russian speakers again. So why not just keep at it for all of the reasons beyond the policy questions. Right now is another moment where Southeast Asian studies are under some siege because of financial reasons often as well as the fact that a lot of faculty are retiring and when they retire, they are not necessarily replaced by someone else who does Southeast Asia. A foundation like ours can make a difference by offering money and therefore signaling this is important. Offers some incentives for institutions to meet you halfway and commit to investing in funding. It has been twenty years since we did our last initiative on Southeast Asia. It is beginning to become the focus of attention because of the South China sea issues and because of China’s rise. As far as my own future, I have a few more years before I retire. I love my job, it is very exciting. I get to work in all different areas of social sciences, humanities etc. It is a great way to learn and feel that the funding we are providing is helping others do important work. **The next few minutes of the interview, Ms. Kolenda asked us about ourselves and our majors in particular. Helena (closing statement): One of the things that we have also tried to encourage with respect to working in China is women in gender studies. That was based on observations over several decades looking at where there were some interests on the side of Chinese scholars and activists for expanding their knowledge of what was happening within gender studies in the United States and in the west. After China opened up in the late seventies to more interaction with other parts �of the world. Over several decades we have provided funding for different types of collaborations between the universities in the U.S. and China on women and gender and help to try to foster the development of programs that would support this work and I just got this book, “Finding Women in the State: A Socialist, Feminist Revolution in the People’s Republic of China” by Professor Wang Zheng who is at the University of Michigan. She has been a real leader in this field working with Fudan University in Shanghai, China to train women from all over China in these summer institutes that bring faculty from the West and China together to provide institutes for young Ph.D.s or graduate students or new faculty on that subject area. Will: Do you have any advice for anyone seeking more knowledge in any academic studies? Helena: There are so many resources online so that’s a good way to explore possibilities. There are all kinds of databases that can give you information about scholarships that exist. Just talking to people that you know are doing work that intersects with your interests in these fields is a good way to learn about others, make connections, and network a little bit. Don’t be shy to reach out to people. SECTION FIVE: Some aspects of the interview which we found to be quite interesting, were the parts where we asked miss Kolenda about the foundation and its finances. How it got money, how it decided to distribute the funds. Learning how the organization generates money through its endowment, which is completely dependant on the stock market, gave us a greater appreciation for the world market as a whole. It didn’t seem like it at first, but major decisions in many countries, can have ripple effects that can damage the funding that the Luce foundation (and others like it) will receive, which in turn can hurt the great work that they do. There weren’t really any aspects of the interview that we didn’t find helpful. Miss Kolenda was very thorough at explaining and �answering any questions we had, and helped guide us to understanding how the foundation worked, and all the great work it did in cultivating Asian culture in the United States, and helping the newer generations have an appreciation for the rich culture that exists in Asia. We would have liked to know more about her political views and how the foundation adjusts to different political atmospheres, but the conversation was not going in that direction, and we didn’t want to force an awkward question or go far off topic. Some of the other classmates presentations were really spectacular. We found some of them to be very insightful and meaningful. Presentations such as the one did by Marie, Julia, and Rubab, on Alexandra Toma. She seemed like such an interesting young woman (only 31!), with an extensive background, and a true passion for helping people. It is our wish that more women like her not only be the focus of study for students, but that they are showcased and admired for the hard work they put in each and every day. Another presentation we found to be useful was the one done by Lauren, on her grandmother, the WWII nurse. What made it so unique was that it was done on her grandmother. That showed us that, while everyone was doing their interview on some important women in U.S. Asian relations, maybe we don’t have to look so far to find someone who has made a profound impact on the world. Hearing her tell the story of her grandmother, allowed us to reflect on our own lives, and our own grandmothers (and other relatives) and better appreciate the lives that they have lived. We can only hope to aspire to make a difference such as these women have. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Women in US-Asian Relations Student Oral History Project Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kolenda, Helena ; Christoff, Peggy Spitzer -- Senior Lecturer, China Studies. Director of Undergraduate Programs: Asian And Asian American Studies. Subject The topic of the resource Asian Americans--Study and teaching; Women social reformers--Asia; Women social reformers--United States; Oral history Relation A related resource AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject; AAS_POL_307_OralHistoryProject_2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted (URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/). Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context aas_2016_20170109_hkolenda_doc_dis Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Description An account of the resource Every fall, students at Stony Brook University in class, AAS/POL 307 (Women in US-Asian Relations), set out to interview women who are committed to enhancing US-Asian relations. Women’s contributions occur at many different levels of society and encompass a variety of occupations. In conducting oral history interviews, students prepare documentation for the Stony Brook University Melville Library’s digital collection and, in the process, acquire deep knowledge about women’s social, cultural, political, and economic roles in the United States and Asia, which includes those in Asian American communities. Each interview consists of multiple files, including: a text document and Powerpoint slides, which were converted to PDFs for this digitization project. The project is a joint effort between the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies and the University Libraries. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Winters, Kristen ; Ozdal, William Type The nature or genre of the resource text Title A name given to the resource Helena Kolenda