Chao Foundation pledges $15 million to Rice for Asian studies

CONTACT: B.J. Almond
PHONE: 713-348-6770
E-MAIL: balmond@rice.edu

Rice University today announced that it has received a $15 million pledge from the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation to fund a premier Center for Asian Studies.

The T.T. and W.F. Chao Center for Asian Studies will distinguish itself from other centers through its explicitly transnational focus, which places an emphasis on how people, ideas, products and technologies travel across national and other boundaries. The center’s scholars will explore systematically and cooperatively the way that the local, regional and national cultures of Asia interact not only with one another but also with the rest of the world.

RICHARD J. SMITH

“The Chao family’s investment at such an extraordinary level provides the catalyst for taking our Asian initiatives to the next level,” Rice University President David Leebron said. “It provides substantial support for our goal to further internationalize Rice, which is one of the foundations of our Vision for the Second Century, through which we aspire to be one of the best private research universities in the world.”

The Chao Center will bring together historians, linguists, literary scholars, economists, scientists, engineers, political scientists and policymakers to address the complex problems facing contemporary Asia. These experts will also examine the transnational and global dimensions of Asian culture, both past and present.

Richard J. Smith, who will serve as acting director while a national search for the center director takes place, said this highly integrated interdisciplinary approach is another feature that will make Rice’s center distinctive.

“The Chao Center will be one of the first in the country to view Asia from a combination of historical, interdisciplinary, transnational, global and comparative perspectives,” said Smith, the George and Nancy Rupp Professor of Humanities and professor of history at Rice.

Leebron said, “This enhanced educational opportunity at Rice will serve our students well in whatever paths they pursue as leaders in an increasingly interconnected world.”

Albert Chao is a member of the Rice Board of Trustees and president, CEO and a director of Westlake Chemical Corp., a global supplier of petrochemicals, polymers and fabricated products.  His brother, James Chao, is chairman of Westlake, and his sister, Dorothy Chao Jenkins, is a director.  The Chao Foundation made the gift to Rice in honor of its founders, “T.T.” Chao and Wei Fong Chao.

“Our family was originally from China, and we have experienced the transnational aspects of the business world that this center at Rice will help scholars learn more about,” said Albert Chao. “This gift reflects our confidence that Rice University has the potential to develop a leading Asian studies center during what some scholars are referring to as ‘Asia’s century.'”

Many members of the Chao family have studied at Rice, and the family has a long history of supporting Rice. They endowed the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair of Chemistry, held by James Tour, and have contributed to Rice’s nanoscale science and technology campaign, the Transnational China Project at Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, the Annual Fund, the Shepherd School of Music, the Art Gallery, the John Tsung-Chen Chao Scholarship, the Owl Club, the Friends of Fondren and other programs at Rice.

The foundation’s $15 million gift includes a $10 million contribution; they are challenging others in the community to contribute an additional $10 million toward this effort and will donate another $5 million if this goal is achieved.

The Chao Center for Asian Studies will build on Rice’s 15-year-old Asian Studies Program, whose 25 faculty members currently offer 40 Asia-oriented courses, confer an undergraduate degree and support a variety of Asia-related activities on campus and in Houston. The new center will collaborate with various departments, schools, institutes, centers and programs at Rice, including the acclaimed Transnational China Project directed by Steven Lewis, professor of the practice in humanities, as well as with colleges, universities and research centers throughout the world.

Among the goals of the center:

The Chao Center for Asian Studies will report to Rice Provost Eugene Levy.

For more information about the center, visit http://chaocenter.rice.edu.