2020 Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Awards
Faculty Award Winner: Yan Liu
The Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Awards recognize annually one community partner, one faculty member, and one graduating senior for their outstanding commitment to the ideals of service-learning. Liu had two different nominators for this award: Luo Zhou, who collaborated with Liu on The Memory Project, an initiative to collect oral histories of survivors of China’s Great Famine of 1958-1961, and long-time partner Bonnie Wang, a Chinese language teacher from Durham Academy who partners regularly with Liu on community-based language activities.
Wang says working with Duke students has been motivating for her students and provides them with experiences that go beyond textbooks and classroom walls. Liu concurs and says it’s a reciprocal experience for her students as well, giving them an opportunity to apply what they have learned to teach younger learners and serve as mentors.
“My students have been really impressed and inspired by the knowledge and worldview of Duke students. We cannot ask for a more supportive and energetic community,” says Wang.
FACULTY RECIPIENT: Yan Liu
Yan Liu, Ph.D., is a Lecturer of Chinese in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and an affiliate faculty member in the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute. Her primary research interests include second language (L2) acquisition, L2 reading, L2 assessment, intercultural competence, Chinese language pedagogy, and Chinese curriculum development.
Yan Liu was a 2015-2016 Service-Learning Faculty Fellow and has been coordinating and co-organizing the Chinese program’s service-learning/community-based activities with her colleagues throughout her time at Duke. She has connected her students with a variety of local communities such as, Burton Elementary School; Durham Academy; Duke China Care, a student organization on Duke campus that helps adopted children from China find their cultural roots; Chinese international students and visitors at Duke; and local Chinese professional translators and interpreters. These community-based activities have enabled her students to know different communities around them and encouraged them to serve the communities with what they have learned from her Chinese courses. Learn more about Yan Liu here.
ABOVE: STUDENTS FROM “UNDERSTANDING CHINA AND THE U.S.” (CHINESE 450S), TAUGHT BY PROFESSOR YAN LIU, PARTNERED WITH STUDENTS FROM DURHAM ACADEMY TO CREATE RESEARCH PROJECTS ON VARIOUS ISSUES LIKE TRADE WAR, TECHNOLOGY COMPETITION BETWEEN CHINA AND THE U.S., CHINESE DREAM AND AMERICAN DREAM, "ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS” IN HONG KONG, AND EDUCATION INEQUALITY IN CHINA AND THE U.S.
VIDEO: Yan Liu (ON RIGHT) Lecturer of Chinese, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke and longtime community partner Bonnie Wang, a teacher at Durham Academy (ON LEFT) discuss the benefits of their partnership.
Nominator Luo Zhou, Duke University Librarian in Chinese Studies, collaborated with Liu and her students on The Memory Project, an initiative to collect oral histories of survivors of China’s Great Famine of 1958-1961. As part of their community-based service for “Chinese Translation and Interpretation (CHN 332),” Yan Liu’s students translated oral history interviews conducted by Chinese filmmakers, documenting the unofficial history of China.
“The library considers the partnership a very meaningful engagement of students with primary source materials.”
“Dr. Liu thought helping us translate the interview transcripts would be a great service-learning opportunity for her students. I’m sure that Dr. Liu spent a lot of time working with the students explaining the cultural, historical backgrounds, linguistic features, and editing their works so that students can finish the translation assignments so successfully. The library considers the partnership a very meaningful engagement of students with primary source materials.”
- Luo Zhou, Duke University Library, Chinese Studies