With economic development at both the state and national levels stretching more and more toward the Pacific Rim, an Asian history course is a top priority for Mississippi State University's history department.
"We thought we could help the state and our students by offering courses in Asian history," said Charles Lowery, department head, explaining, "It's easy to make economic trade mistakes if you know nothing about the culture."
Christoph Giebel joined the faculty in August, solving the problem of who would teach the yet-to-be implemented courses. Solving the problem of limited library materials took a little longer. Giebel said there were very few books on Asian history in the library when he arrived.
According to Lowery, the department then turned to its alumni and James F. Young of Plano, Texas, donated $5,000 which was then matched by the university on a two-for-one basis. With $15,000 in hand, Giebel has begun ordering new library books to supplement the Asian history program he is creating.
"We also hope to use this funding as leverage to obtain external grants for curriculum development and additional faculty," Lowery said.
Giebel will offer the first course in the new program in the spring semester, "Vietnam: Between Revolution and War (1940-1986)." The Cornell graduate said his course will feature the Vietnamese perspective. It is designed to complement a course taught by Dr. Lorenzo Crowell, which speaks from the American perspective.
Vietnamese history is the first of four sequences Giebel is developing. The other sequences will highlight Southeast Asia, China and Korea.
Once the program--and the books--are firmly in place, he is hopeful of attracting students who want to major in Asian history.
Giebel, who received his doctorate this summer from Cornell, is a native of Germany. He has spent time in both Vietnam, where he was the first West German student allowed in the country in the late 1980s, and China.
"It's funny," he related. "I am a German teaching Asian studies in the United States and my wife, a Chinese-American, is getting her Ph.D. in German studies. She's teaching beginning German in the Foreign Languages Department."