UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Department of Applied Linguistics in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts recently bolstered its international presence via a new partnership with the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK).
On Sept. 11, Applied Linguistics Department Head Tommaso M. Milani, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of applied linguistics, Jewish studies, African studies, and women's, gender, and sexuality studies, and Suresh Canagarajah, Evan Pugh University Professor of applied linguistics, English and Asian studies, welcomed EdUHK’s Chetwyn C.H. Chan and Mingyue Michelle Gu to University Park to formally sign a memorandum of understanding between the two entities.
Through the agreement, the universities will collaborate on several initiatives, including bringing applied linguistics doctoral students from EdUHK to Penn State for a three-month program, as well as for more short-term coursework.
In addition, EdUHK students would have the opportunity to attend what’s envisioned to be a five-day summer institute established by Canagarajah using funds allocated through his Evan Pugh professorship.
“It would be a research initiative bringing together scholars and [doctoral] students to debate key issues in current research in applied linguistics,” Milani said.
“To push the boundaries of language communication,” added Canagarajah, who initiated conversations between the universities after keynoting a conference at EdUHK in July.
Gu, dean of EdUHK’s graduate school, said stakeholders are also continuing to discuss additional potential opportunities for the universities to collaborate.
“I hope my students can forge many good conversations with students here at Penn State and interact with professors here that will allow them to grow their network,” said Gu, who has collaborated on research with Canagarajah for many years.
Chan, vice president of research and development and chair professor of psychology at EdUHK, said the university has increasingly invested in its linguistics curriculum in recent years, and that the opportunity to partner with a program like Penn State’s, which boasts some of the top scholars in the field, was too good to pass up. Seven Applied Linguistics faculty members — Milani, Canagarajah, Karen E. Johnson, Celeste Kinginger, James Lantolf, Xiaofei Lu and Matt Poehner — are currently among the world’s top 2% most-cited researchers and top 400 world linguists, according to the Elsevier Data Repository.
“It’s a very important discipline at our university. We’re looking for a great partner in the world, and the Department of Applied Linguistics at Penn State is the best,” Chan said. “They have world-renowned professors who mesh with our strategic thinking of building relationships. We look forward to working with them.”
The partnership is mutually beneficial, according to Canagarajah and Milani.
“Because of the many geopolitical changes in the world, we’re seeing changes in the international students who come here,” Canagarajah said. “Making connections with other universities abroad could expand our international footprint.”
“This creates more opportunities for international students to come here,” Milani said. “Being a fairly young university, EdUHK is putting a lot of emphasis on applied linguistics as a strategic development, which makes the collaboration that much more exciting. There are so many opportunities moving forward.”