The UTC Conference on Asia

Shelley Rigger is the Brown Professor of East Asian Politics and Chair of Political Science at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. She has been a visiting researcher at National Chengchi University in Taiwan (2005) and a visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai (2006). Rigger is the author of two books on Taiwan’s domestic politics, Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Democracy (Routledge, 1999) and From Opposition to Power: Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001). In 2011, she published Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse, a book for general readers. She has published articles on Taiwan’s domestic politics, the national identity issue in Taiwan-China relations, and related topics. Currently she is working on a study of Taiwan’s contributions to the PRC’s economic take-off.

Kingsley Brock is the Assistant Commissioner of Business Development for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.  He manages recruitment and expansion activity for the department, and he was lead project manager on a number of significant projects such as Hemlock Semiconductor’s one billion dollar investment in Clarksville, Federated Department Store’s 600,000 square foot distribution center in Portland, the relocation of Oreck Vacuums from Mississippi to Cookeville, Verizon Wireless regional headquarters in Cool Springs, and Jackson National Life regional headquarters also in Cool Springs.

Craig Laing is an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.His research interests center on the geography of Appalachia and the American South, the geography of travel and tourism, and Asian cultural landscapes.He has spent time in both China and Japan.version of his presentation can be found in the winter 2012 issue of Education About Asia.He also wrote a component on Japanese cultural landscapes for the Japan Teaching Module at http://www.utc.edu/Research/AsiaProgram/teaching.

Lucien Ellington is a UC Foundation Professor of Education and Co-director of the Asia Program. He is editor of the Association for Asian Studies teaching journal, Education About Asia, and the organization’s pedagogical booklet series, Key Issues in Asian Studies. He has published four books on Japan and is interested in East Asian economic history, East Asian educational thought, and East Asia in World History.

Komal Patri is a fifth-grade student studying at Brainerd Baptist School in Chattanooga. She has been learning classical Indian dance (Bharatnatyam Style), folk, and contemporary Indian dance since she was five years old. Komal has performed in a variety of cultural programs. She plays the piano and the viola. She also plays soccer and holds a green belt in karate. In her free time,enjoys reading, listening to music, and watching movies.

Tanay Patri is a McCallie School freshman. He has represented the Chattanooga area at the National Spelling Bee in Washington DCthree consecutive years. In addition to his interest in mathematics and science, he is a black-belt in karate, represents his school for debating, Model UN, the academic bowl, and is a co-captain for the #4 Tennessee chess team. He participates in Honors Orchestra and the McCallie band. In his free time, Tanay enjoys reading, listening to music, and playing a variety of sports. Tanay will be introducing both the dances for his sister.

Savannah Arthur is a UTC junior, and her major is Child and Family Studies. She went to Kolkata, India on the International Partnership of Service Learning program in 2012. In addition to Kolkata, she visited Darjeeling, Konark, and Sikkim.

Charlotte Hill is a UTC Honors student majoring in political science and international studies with an interest in China. She is an Honors Assistant in the Asia Program and participated in the Honors travel seminar to China in 2012.

Kitt McAuliffe is a UTC Honors student majoring in political science and international studies. She studied abroad at Toyo University in Tokyo from September 2010 to July 2011 and participated in the Honors travel seminar to China in 2012. Kitt also worked with the UTC Asia Program through an honors assistantship from 2011–2012.