The UCLA Taiwan Studies Program, housed in the Asia Pacific Center, is one of the most active and vibrant centers for the study of Taiwan in the United States, offering an array of public events, conferences and lecture series, visiting scholar exchanges, new courses, library acquisitions, and research fellowships and travel grants for faculty and students. Its signature programs include the Taiwan Studies Lectureship, the UCLA-National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) Taiwan Studies Initiative, and the Taiwan in the World Program, established in 2020. Taiwan studies programs and scholarships are supported by a generous gift from the J. Yang and Family Foundation.
UCLA Taiwan Studies Program Initiatives
The UCLA Taiwan Studies Lectureship (TSL), established in 2014, is a joint initiative of the Asia Pacific Center and the Division of Humanities supported by the Taiwan Ministry of Education. The program facilitates academic exchanges between UCLA and Taiwan, drawing on both the expertise of UCLA faculty and the contributions of visiting Taiwanese scholars. The TSL funds courses, public events, and research grants for faculty and graduate students. The TSL program was renewed in 2017 and again in 2020 for a five-year term extending to 2025.
The UCLA-NTNU Taiwan Studies Initiative, directed by Professor Shu-mei Shih, was established in 2017 and renewed in 2020 to extend to 2023. It aims to create research synergies to promote cutting-edge research in Taiwan studies. This collaboration between UCLA and National Taiwan Normal University includes faculty and student exchanges, graduate fellowship support, and workshops and lectures. The Asia Pacific Center will also release a working paper series as a concrete outcome of this initiative. Prof. Shih has also been appointed as an Honorary Chair Professor in the Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature at National Taiwan Normal University.
The Taiwan in the World Program was established in 2020 with a gift of $2 million from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The program aims to promote and disseminate Taiwan studies in a global context and train the next generation of scholars and professionals well-versed with Taiwanese society, culture, and political economy, including proficiency in Mandarin Chinese and the reading and use of traditional characters. The program includes a lecture series, a translation initiative to bring Taiwan scholarship to a wider English readership, scholarships for the study of Mandarin Chinese language, a postdoctoral fellowship, and an interactive website to disseminate scholarship on Taiwan studies and US-Taiwan-China international relations.
In addition to the Asia Pacific Center, the Center for Chinese Studies and the Richard C. Randolph East Asian Library are campus partners in Taiwan studies programming. The East Asian Library was designated a Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS) by the National Central Library of Taiwan in 2017. UCLA has partnerships with universities in Taiwan to pursue joint research and academic exchange, including National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), National Cheng Chi University (NCCU), and National Taiwan University (NTU). The UCLA/Cedars Sinai Medical Center Translational Oncology Program is supported by the Taiwan Ministry of Education to train the next generation of medical scientists from Taiwan.