Oberlin Shansi Selects 2018 Fellows

Seven recent graduates have been selected as Oberlin Shansi fellows for 2018. This summer, they will head to China, India, Indonesia, and Japan for intensive language study before embarking on their two-year fellowships, where they will work for university partners and non-governmental organizations.

The newly selected Fellows are Andrew Boor ’18, Austin Cope ‘15, Sydney Garvis ’18, Radia Lahlou ‘18, Jingyi Laura Li ’18, Xin Jenny Luan ‘18, and Leah Wood ‘16. They will join the seven Shansi fellows who are currently completing their first year in the field.

Oberlin Shansi is an independent, nonprofit organization promoting understanding and communication between Oberlin and Asia. Founded in 1908, it is one of the oldest educational exchange programs in the United States.

This year, Shansi awarded its first Independent Fellowship to Jingyi Laura Li, a double major in East Asian studies and cinema studies. The new program provides an opportunity for motivated graduates to create their own individualized two-year fellowship in China, India, Indonesia, or Japan. Li designed her fellowship to work with Taktopia, a young Japanese company with a social enterprise approach that focuses on personalized language learning that fits each student’s unique educational goals.

The intent of the Independent Fellowship is to experience deep cultural immersion while developing academic and professional skills, building networks with peers and counterparts, contributing to a host institution, and pursuing knowledge of an issue or field.

Other Shansi programs include In-Asia Grants for Oberlin students to undertake independent projects in Asia during summer and winter term, visiting scholar awards that enable faculty and staff from Asian partner institutions to spend a semester or year at Oberlin, and various on-campus programs at Oberlin.

Read the full profiles of the 2018 fellows here.