Paul J. Anderer |
Columbia University has appointed Paul J. Anderer, Theodore and Fanny Brett de Bary and Class of 1941 Collegiate Professor of Asian Humanities, to the newly created position of Vice Provost for International Relations.
The position was established to bring greater institutional coherence and oversight to international programming at the University. During the last few years, Columbia has been deepening and widening its global engagement in a range of academic and extra-curricular programs. The creation of a post for International Relations reflects the importance the administration places on the University’s continuing leadership role in global thought, especially given its location in a world capital of ideas, commerce and culture.
“In these days of rapid globalization and a more interconnected world, we have a tremendous responsibility to ensure that our collective scholarship and expertise reach across boundaries, whether between countries or traditional academic disciplines,” President Lee C. Bollinger said. “We can no longer mix with the world simply because we are curious about it, or because it provides the foil against which to better understand ourselves. Today we learn about other cultures, other nations and other views because we must do so, because our lives depend on one another.”
“We understand that disease or pollution in one place can spread everyplace; that poverty and hunger on one continent are our responsibility, just as they are when the desperate live nearby; and that a new discovery in one lab can spark innovation around the world,” Bollinger explained. “More than ever, shared interests can unite us, and can potentially make our relationships with people around the globe more immediate and meaningful.”
As Vice Provost, Professor Anderer will help to coordinate existing international research and education programs; oversee agreements with partner programs around the world and develop policies and procedures for ensuring their coherence and conformity to institutional rules and regulations; provide leadership for increasing grants and gifts in support of the international agenda; and work with President Bollinger, Provost Alan Brinkley and the Deans to articulate Columbia’s international vision and academic leadership. The office will host visits of foreign delegations interested in Columbia’s research and education activities and work to further opportunities for international study and research for students and faculty.
“Paul Anderer is an ideal choice for this important position,” Provost Brinkley said. “I look forward to working with him as we strengthen and expand our relationships with other institutions around the world and assist our schools and departments in their efforts to deal with global issues.”
Professor Anderer, who began in the new position July 1, is a scholar of modern Japanese literature and culture and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on the novel, postwar film and drama, and advanced analysis and translation of Japanese language. His writings include the books Other Worlds: Arishima Takeo and the Bounds of Modern Japanese Fiction (Columbia, 1984) and Literature of the Lost Home: Kobayashi Hideo--Literary Criticism, 1924-1939 (Stanford, 1995; paperback edition, 1999).
He has a long record of effective academic leadership at Columbia, serving as Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (1989-1997), Acting Dean of the Graduate School (1990-1991), and Director of the Keene Center for Japanese Culture (1991-1993), among other positions. In addition, he has deep roots in the international community, having served on the Program Committee of The Japan Society of New York and as chair of the Advisory Committee for the Japanese Literature Publishing Project for the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Professor Anderer holds degrees from the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago and Yale University, has held teaching or research appointments at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, the University of Notre Dame and Kinki University (Higashi-Osaka City, Japan), and has received awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Fulbright Commission.
|
