Associate Professor of Chinese Carl Robertson, with the assistance of Coordinator of Alumni and Parent Relations Serena Bettis, presented a personal introduction to Chinese culture and literature to alumni, incoming and current students, and others on August 26. Titled “The Strange Case of the Teacher Whose Life Has Become a Series of Chinese Poems: My Adventures Living in and Teaching about China,” the virtual event addressed from a personal perspective ways of seeing and participating in the environmental and social worlds as practiced by Chinese poets. 

Associate Professor of Chinese Carl Robertson, in conjunction with several colleagues, hosted and presented a virtual workshop through ACS, titled “Technologies, Pedagogies, and Best Practices for Teaching Chinese Online,” on July 8. As part of the intended outcomes and at the request of several junior faculty in attendance, Robertson followed up by initiating an intercampus network, tentatively called INCPENS (Intercampus Chinese Pedagogy Network for Small Programs). Robertson organized and hosted two of three planned virtual meetings, on July 27 and August 17, respectively, including collecting and posting shared resources. The response of the participants so far indicates that some form of this network will continue for the foreseeable future.  

Associate Professor of Chinese Carl Robertson presented a paper exploring cultural comparison, titled “Lyric Voice in the Poetry of Tao Yuanming and Leslie Norris,” at the recent SouthWest Conference of Asian Studies (SWCAS), held in Austin, TX, October 19, 2019,  This paper builds on another paper Robertson presented at the conference of the Association of Welsh Writers of English (AWWE) held at Tregynog, Wales, U.K., in May 2019, titled “Personal States of Mind: The Lyric Voice of Leslie Norris,” which included a  reading of the original poem “True Lark.” Robertson was also elected as an assistant editor of the SWCAS Journal during proceedings in Austin.

Associate Professor of Chinese Carl Robertson presented a paper at the Association of Welsh Writers of English Annual Conference, at Gregynog Hall, Tregynon, Wales, titled “States of Mind: The Lyric Voice and the Poetry of Leslie Norris,” including the inaugural reading of a poem dedicated to Norris, “True Lark.”

Associate Professor of Chinese Carl Robertson published a translation of the short story “Tharlo” by the Tibetan writer Pema Tseden in a collection of Tseden’s work titled Enticement  (Duke UP, 2018), edited by former part-time faculty Patricia Schiaffini. This book has been adopted to promote understanding of Tibetan culture by the independent organization Machik, which is hosting discussions in 24 cities worldwide.