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American Center for Mongolian Studies www.mongoliacenter.org |
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ANNUAL REPORT 2018:
AN ACMS ALPHABET
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Welcome to the second ACMS Annual Report, provided in an “ACMS Alphabet” format and available to all ACMS members as well as “friends of Mongolia” who support the ACMS mission of promoting cooperation and expanding opportunities for engagement among researchers in Mongolia and the United States.
The main intent is to provide a “plain English” version of what ACMS does and how it does it, with a special emphasis on 2018. Hopefully, this report will broaden understanding about ACMS to its members, stakeholders, donors and others. As always, comments and questions are welcome; please do join in this ongoing effort to make ACMS a better organization!
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The approved ACMS budget for 2018 – 2019 anticipates an income of $467,000 including major contributions from government grants ($150,000); private grants ($173,000) and contracted services ($119,000), with additional contributions coming from memberships, donations and the annual ACMS fund-raising campaign.
As regards expenses, these are expected to reach $468,000, representing a combination of Fellowship awards ($71,000), Luce program costs ($133,000) and contracted service costs ($64,000). Other categories include UB office costs, travel costs and salaries, the latter category including work contributions directly associated with program planning, management and implementation.
The ACMS Financial Statement and Independent Accountant’s Review as of September 30, 2018 prepared by Larson Gross is available to ACMS members on request. Also, ACMS has made arrangements with LaDawn Ramsey at Keepin’ It Straight in Bellingham, WA to provide regular bookkeeping and accounting services and support, an arrangement that marks a major step forward and appears to be working well.
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The fact that ACMS is part of a network of more than two dozen similar centers falling under the “umbrella” of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) provides many benefits.
Several years ago ACMS hosted the bi-annual international CAORC conference in Ulaanbaatar, providing opportunities for the directors of other CAORC partners to visit Mongolia. This year the conference was held on the island of Djerba off the coast of Tunisia in early October 2018. Representatives from more than 20 overseas American research centers attended – including ACMS Resident Director Tricia Turbold.
CAORC also sponsored a panel at this year’s annual Association for Asian Studies (AAS) annual meeting in Denver in late March 2019. The program was titled Teaching Asia Beyond the Ivory Tower: The American Overseas Research Centers and Broad Educational Engagement. Among other things, it focused on innovative ways to interest American students in Asia. Former ACMS Executive Director Charles Krusekopf and current ACMS Executive Director Jonathan Addleton participated, joining representatives from other centers including India and Cambodia.
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CULTURAL HERITAGE PROGRAMS
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The fact that ACMS is part of a network of more than two dozen similar centers falling under the “umbrella” of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) provides many benefits.
Several years ago ACMS hosted the bi-annual international CAORC conference in Ulaanbaatar, providing opportunities for the directors of other CAORC partners to visit Mongolia. This year the conference was held on the island of Djerba off the coast of Tunisia in early October 2018. Representatives from more than 20 overseas American research centers attended – including ACMS Resident Director Tricia Turbold.
CAORC also sponsored a panel at this year’s annual Association for Asian Studies (AAS) annual meeting in Denver in late March 2019. The program was titled Teaching Asia Beyond the Ivory Tower: The American Overseas Research Centers and Broad Educational Engagement. Among other things, it focused on innovative ways to interest American students in Asia. Former ACMS Executive Director Charles Krusekopf and current ACMS Executive Director Jonathan Addleton participated, joining representatives from other centers including India and Cambodia.
Although certain cultural heritage activities will continue, 2018 marked the formal conclusion of the three-year, $450,000 Cultural Heritage Program (CHP) grant from Henry Luce Foundation.
Under Julia Clark’s leadership and with support from the entire ACMS office in Ulaanbaatar, the ACMS Cultural Heritage Program organized a “capstone” CHP conference in Ulaanbaatar on June 15, 2018. Among other things, the conference highlighted the full breadth of CHP activities as well as other cultural programs related to Mongolia.
The conference included 22 presentations involving a combination of papers and poster boards, all broadly related to Mongolia’s cultural heritage. Speakers came from a number of countries including Germany, Mongolia, Poland, Slovakia and the United States. Speakers also represented a number of US affiliations including Colorado State University, Florida Atlantic University, University of Arizona, University of California-Berkeley and University of Kansas.
The night before the conference, ACMS organized a well-attended reception at the National Museum of Mongolia. The setting for the reception – the ground floor of the National Museum – was especially appropriate, providing an attractive venue for a gathering that included many people and institutions involved in cultural preservation in Mongolia.
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The ACMS newsletter This Month in Mongolian Studies continued to be posted throughout 2018, providing information on major ACMS activities as well as news and views on various Mongolia-related events around the world. The publications section of the monthly newsletter was expanded, providing notices on new books as well as significant journal articles and blog posts on subjects related to Mongolia.
Occasional issue-specific notices are distributed to ACMS members electronically including information on new programs. Members also sometimes reach out directly to ACMS staff in Mongolia or in the United States – this is very much welcomed and we appreciate hearing from ACMS members via e-mail on any issue and at any time:
Jonathan Addleton, Executive Director: jaddleton@mongoliacenter.org
Tricia Turbold, Resident Director: tricia@mongoliacenter.org
David Dettmann, Program Manager: ddettmann@mongoliacenter.org
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CONGRESSIONAL ENGAGEMENTS
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ACMS Executive Director Jonathan Addleton and ACMS Resident Director Tricia Turbold briefed approximately twenty Congressional staffers on Mongolia on the morning of Friday, March 23, 2018. The event was sponsored by a revived bipartisan Mongolia Congressional Caucus, with invitations extended by co-chairs Dina Titus (Democrat from Nevada’s First District) and Don Young (Republican at large from Alaska).
The Congressional briefing included a summary of ACMS programs in Mongolia as well as a reflection on historic connections between the United States and Mongolia, with a special emphasis on interactions involving Congress over the years. The session also included a question-and-answer time, highlighting Congressional interest in Mongolia. One area of interest on the Hill is a prospective “Third Neighbor Trade Bill” which would grant duty-free status to Mongolian fiber products from yak, camels and cashmere goats.
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Thanks to a generous personal donation from ACMS member Blake Epstein, ACMS distributed more than 500 English-language academic books to Mongolian schools. ACMS identified ten Mongolian schools that follow a Cambridge curriculum and could therefore benefit the most. Subjects covered included physics, calculus and algebra. The ten schools received the books just in time for the start of the new academic year.
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ACMS’s Executive Board is vital in shaping the strategic management and future directions of the organization. During 2018, Bill Fitzhugh from the Smithsonian Institute continued to serve as Board President. Other Executive Board members include Paula DePriest (Vice President), Charles Krusekopf (Vice President); and Meredith Giordano (Treasurer).
There was one change on the ACMS Executive Board during 2018: Caverlee Cary from the University of California-Berkeley kindly agreed to assume the position of ACMS Secretary.
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Thanks to the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation, ACMS brought two Mongolian scholars from the National Museum of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC for a period of approximately six months each during the first half of 2018.
The first Mongolian Fellow was Bayarsaikhan Jamsranjav, Research Director; the second Mongolian Fellow was Batchuluun Oyundelger, Curator. Both worked as part of a project titled Digital Data Management for Deer Stone and Khirgisuur Data from Mongolia.
On returning to the National Museum in Ulaanbaatar, both Mongolian Fellows gave a workshop for those in Mongolia interested in the project at the Smithsonian. Bayarsaikhan also gave a well-received ACMS Lecture at the UB Public Library titled First Migration East to West: Conflict Between Two Major Cultures of the Mongolian Late Bronze Age.
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In addition, the Luce Foundation supported a third Mongolian Fellow to the United States, Binderiya Munkhbat who interned at the Rubin Museum in New York. Among other things, she focused on museum outreach, docent programs and school curriculums, and has already delivered a very useful workshop for Mongolian museum professionals back in Mongolia.
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ACMS Field Research Fellowships play a vital role in enabling young scholars as well as faculty to undertake research in Mongolia. The list of ACMS Field Research Fellows from 2018 includes:
- Cynthia S. Brown (Colorado State University), Mongolian Sustainable Rangeland Collaborative
- Jean M. Caldieron (Florida Atlantic University), Ger Detection, Changes, and Urban Growth Models for Informal Settlements in Ulaanbaatar Using Remote Sensing Techniques
- Joseph Cleveland (Indiana University): Publics, Bureaucracy and the Build Environment in Contemporary Ulaanbaatar
- Alexander C. Diener (University of Kansas): Axial Development in Mongolia: Intended and Unintended Effects of New Roads
- Eduardo Hazera (University of Texas at Austin): Is Herd Composition Transforming Herder-Livestock Communication? An Interdisciplinary Examination of Musical Communication in Mongolia
- Christopher McCarthy (Johns Hopkins University): Secrets of the Sand: A Spatial Inventory of Mongolia’s Ancient Caravan Route to Lhasa
- Kristen R. Pearson (University of Pennsylvania): An Anthropological Approach to the Study of Mongolian Textiles
- Thalea Stokes (University of Chicago): “Real Mongolians”: Hip-Hop as a Mediator for Mongol Identity Expression Inside and Outside Mongolia
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ACMS is very grateful to have had the support of Shine-Erdene Tulgat, who worked as an intern in the ACMS office in Ulaanbaatar. Among other things, Shine assisted ACMS staff with the distribution of a large donation of academic books to local schools, organization of the Cultural Heritage Conference and Reception, research for ACMS programs, and other administrative duties.
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The ACMS Mongolian language program continues to be an important part of the ACMS schedule in Ulaanbaatar; on-line instruction is offered as well. The summer 2018 ACMS Intensive Mongolian language program involved 5 students converging from France, Hawaii, Michigan and Taiwan. In addition, ACMS continues to offer year-round Mongolian language instruction both in our language classroom in Ulaanbaatar and via the internet, including one-on-one Skype lessons at a cost of $20 per hour.
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Core funding for ACMS comes from the US Department of Education (under its Title VI program) and the US Department of State (under its ECA program). It would be hard for ACMS to sustain a significant on-ground presence in Ulaanbaatar without these two grants.
Support from at least one additional significant donor is needed to maintain this on-ground presence. The continued ACMS relationship with the Henry Luce Foundation thus makes a major contribution toward sustaining an ACMS presence in Mongolia. While the Luce-funded ACMS Cultural Heritage Program largely concluded in 2018, the announcement of a new Luce grant supporting an innovative ACMS Summer Field Schools initiative ensures a continued close partnership between ACMS and Luce for at least the next three years.
Support from both individual and institutional ACMS members is also essential, especially because it comes without a specific “earmark” and can be used to help support the ACMS management platform which makes everything else possible. Thank you for your continued and generous support!
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ACMS was referenced in several media outlets during 2018. Such visibility started in January when ACMS Resident Director Tricia Turbold was interviewed by the radio show Voice of Mongolia, providing a useful opportunity to introduce ACMS to a wider audience in Mongolia and beyond.
ACMS Cultural Heritage Coordinator Julia Clark wrote an article titled “Climate Change and Looters Threaten the Archaeology of Mongolia that was posted in The Conversation (March 11, 2018) and circulated widely via internet, Facebook and Twitter. Reprinted in The Smithsonian Magazine under the title “As Mongolia Melts, Looters Close in on Priceless Artifacts”, it quickly registered more than 38,000 online readers. Julia Clark was also featured in an article titled “Galloping in from Outer Mongolia” posted by Flinders University, the university where she spent the first half of 2018.
Returning to Mongolia during the summer, Julia Clark delivered a well-received lecture in Ulaanbaatar on threats to Mongolia’s cultural heritage involving both looting and climate issues. Among other issues, she noted the dangers posed by “inadvertent looters” and “curious looters” who simply stumble across items scattered on the ground and then take them home without informing archaeologists who might otherwise be able to provide important historical context. Her perspective was later published in the June 11, 2018 edition of the UB Post.
ACMS Executive Director Jonathan Addleton published a number of Mongolia-related articles and op-eds during 2018 including “Mongolia’s Moment? A Surprisingly Logical Choice to Host a Trump-Kim Summit” (GlobalAtlanta, March 16, 2018); “Yoho’s Initiative Benefits Mongolia, US” (Gainesville Sun, August 14, 2018); and “Cashmere from Mongolia: One Way to Smooth Out Washington’s Partisan Differences” (GlobalAtlanta, September 6, 2018);
Addleton’s summer 2018 visit to Mongolia also resulted in a number of media reports including an interview on Mongolian National Radio’s Voice of Mongolia “Interview of the Week” (June 8, 2018). Also, Addleton was interviewed for Star TV’s weekly Talk With Me program conducted by former ACMS Fellow Peter Bittner. The interview was posted on October 19, 2018.
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As always, ACMS arranged its 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to take place in conjunction with the annual Association for Asian Studies (AAS) meetings, scheduled for March 2018 in Washington, DC. ACMS Treasurer Meredith Giordano kindly hosted both the Executive Board and the Annual General Meeting at her home. That same evening the Mongolian Embassy in Georgetown organized a well-attended reception to honor both ACMS and the Mongol Society.
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Maintaining both institutional and individual membership is a particular challenge for any organization including ACMS. Yet it remains an important responsibility, both for the health of an organization and to ensure effective corporate governance.
In preparation for the 2019 ACMS Annual General Meeting (AGM), ACMS updated its active membership role, noting that the following 17 institutions whose memberships are up-to-date through at least 2019, assuring them institutional membership on the ACMS Board:
Bio Regions International
Colorado State University
Columbia University
Macalester College
Principia College
Rutgers University
School for International Training (SIT)
University of Alaska-Anchorage
University of Arizona
University of British Columbia
University of California-Berkeley
University of Kansas
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
University of North Georgia
Western Washington University
Smithsonian Institute
Yale University
Other ACMS institutional members, assigned on the basis of the significant in-kind support that they provide, include:
Mercer University
Royal Roads University
University of Pennsylvania
As for individual memberships, in early 2019 these exceeded 100, including 60 “regular” members and 48 “student” members.
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The ACMS office in Ulaanbaatar maintains regular contact with the United States Embassy, especially the Public Affairs section which is responsible for Embassy-supported cultural, academic and related programs in Mongolia. The March 2019 arrival of Michael Klecheski as the new United States Ambassador to Mongolia will provide opportunities to strengthen that relationship still further.
Also, ACMS maintains links with other Embassies in Ulaanbaatar as well as with various academic institutions, libraries, museums, ministries and other institutions in Ulaanbaatar and beyond.
Throughout 2018 ACMS Resident Director Tricia Turbold met with D. Regdel, President of the Mongolian Academy of Science; Mash-Erdene Ochir, founder of the Mongolian Ethnographic Ger Museum; Dr. Bataa, Director of the Tritiya Dharmachakra Foundation; Munkhtuya, UNESCO Education Program Specialist; Mr. Dawaatseren, Tangible cultural heritage specialist at the Cultural Policy Department of Ministry of Education, Science and Sports; Rob Tate, Public Affairs Officer of the U.S. Embassy; and Davaasuren Myagmar, Head of International Relations and Marketing Department at the National Library of Mongolia.
ACMS Executive Director Jonathan Addleton spent much of May and June 2018 in Ulaanbaatar, providing many opportunities to talk about ACMS and reconnect with friends and colleagues in Mongolia. During the trip, Jonathan, along with ACMS Resident Director Tricia Turbold, met with Foreign Minister Tsogtbaatar; Mr. Gardi, Head of International Projects, Program and Foreign Relation Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports; and Dr. Sukhbaatar, Director of the Mongolian National Museum.
In addition, Addleton met with Presidential Chief of Staff Enkhbold Zandaakhuu and representatives from the American Chamber of Commerce, Ed Neff Foundation, Veloo Foundation, Mercy Corps, National Defense University, National University of Education and the US and UK Embassies.
Throughout the year Addleton also visited various places within the US, arranged and organized in part to strengthen ongoing ACMS relationships. This included several trips to Washington, DC, providing opportunities to meet with Ambassador of Mongolia, chief of mission of the Embassy of Mongolia to the United States.
In addition, Addleton attended the 12th Annual Mongolian Studies Conference in Washington, DC sponsored by the Mongolian Embassy and Mongolian Cultural Center in February 2018 and again in February 2019. ACMS Executive Board President Bill Fitzhugh as well as others associated with ACMS are typically heavily involved in this annual event, both as presenters and as participants. As always, the program included an exhibition from the Library of Congress Mongolian Collection, organized by ACMS member Susan Meinheit.
Other events during the year included participation on the Foreign Policy Panel organized by Alicia Campi on behalf of The Mongol Society on the fringes of the AAS meeting on March 23, 2018.
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Introduced in early 2016, the ACMS Mongolia Field Notes series helps highlight ACMS-associated research underway in Mongolia. Although only one contribution to Mongolia Field Notes was posted in 2018, it is worth including a full list of Field Notes posted since 2016, if only to provide a sense for the breadth and range of ACMS-supported research in Mongolia:
- Blake Epstein (Ranney High School): Ikh Nart: An Archaeological Treasure Trove (January 2018)
- Phillip Marzluf: Linguistic Landscape Research: Ulaanbaatar (December 2017)
- Ryan C. Burner (Louisiana State University): Amur Falcon Nesting Ecology: A Case Study in Land-Use Practices, Climate Change and Protected Areas of Central Mongolia (September 2017)
- Pawel Szczap (University of Warsaw): Ulaanbaatar Studies and the Pursuit of Knowledge in the City Streets (August 2017)
- Peter Bittner (University; of California-Berkeley): Herder Vision: Bringing Audiences Closer to the Mongolian Experience Using 360 Video (February 2017)
- Dimitri Staszewski: Mongol Music Archive: Capturing Everyday Use of Traditional Music in the Daily Lives of Mongolian Herders (December 2016)
- Marissa J. Smith (Princeton University): Language and Learning: What, and How, to Learn from One Another Through International Research Collaboration in Mongolia (November 2016)
- Scott Parker (University of Utah): Gaming Addiction and Homeless Youth in Ulaanbaatar (October 2016)
- William Taylor (Max Planck Institute): Investigating Mongolia’s Nomadic Origins Through the Study of Ancient Horse Remains (September 2016)
- Aubrey Menard (Oxford University): Breastfeeding Across the World: Celebrating Mother’s Milk in Mongolia (August 2016)
- Caleb Pan (University of Montana): From the Pleistocene to the Present: Climate-Induced Water Poverty in the Altai Mountains (June 2016)
- Bjorn Reichhardt (Humboldt University): Material Culture of the Kashaa: Fence Exigency in Ulaanbaatar’s Ger Districts (May 2016)
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During summer 2018, ACMS, as in previous years, worked with the Defense Attaché’s office at the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar to implement an ROTC cultural awareness program involving 30 cadets from across the U.S.
Working with the tour company Mongolia Quest, the ROTC visit included guest lectures as well as a “Mini Nadaam” and visits to Terelj National Park, Gandan Monastery and several museums. Another highlight for the ROTC group was a road trip to the Gobi. Former ACMS Fellow (and current University of Chicago PhD student) Bryce Lowry provided expert advice to the ROTC cadets throughout their trip while ACMS Cultural Affairs Assistant Tuvshinzaya accompanied the group on their field trip to the Gobi.
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One of the most visible ways that ACMS interacts with both the Mongolian and expatriate community in Ulaanbaatar is through its regular lecture series, held at the Natsagdorj Public Library in downtown Ulaanbaatar. The Speaker Series is sponsored by ACMS as well as the Embassy-supported “American Corner”. Seventeen lectures were delivered during 2018, two more than last year:
- Kristen Pearson (Fulbright Fellow): Objects in an Ecosystem: The Ethno-Archaeology of Mongolian Hide and Fiber Crafts (December 2018)
- Stephen Lezak (Oxford University), Ariell Ahearn Oxford University) and Byambabaatar Ichinkhorlo (Independent Scholar): Introducing the Gobi Framework Project: Mediation Model for Sustainable Infrastructure (December 2018)
- Birtalan Agnes (Eotvos Lorand University): Black and Yellow Shamans in Mongolia in the 1990s (November 2018)
- Thalea Stokes (University of Chicago): The Hip-Hop Scene Among Mongols in Mongolia and China: Witnessing the Development of a New Tradition throughout the Mongolian Diaspora (October 2018)
- Chantsallkham Jamsranjav (Colorado State University): Herders, Indicators and Ratings Predict Rangeland Conditions in Three Mongolian Ecological Zones (October 2018)
- Bryan K. Miller (University of Pennsylvania): In Search of “Commoners” in the Xiongnu Empire (September 2018)
- Joseph Bristley (University College London): “The Festival of Forty Thousand Horses”: Number and Value in the Mongolian Countryside (September 2018)
- William Taylor (Max Planck Institute): Recovering Mongolia’s Frozen Past: Understanding Taiga and Alpine History through Ice Patch Archaeology (August 2018)
- M. Saandar (MonMap Engineering) and J.K. Cleur (Independent Geologist): Re-Photography of the Central Asian Expeditions, Mongolia – 1919-1925: Chasing Roy Chapman Andrews Across the Gobi and Imaging 100 Years of Change (August 2018)
- Sas Carey (Independent Film Maker): Special Screening of Documentary Film “Migration” (July 2018)
- Sanchir Jargalsaikhan (Independent Researcher): Environmental Governance in Mongolia: Challenges and Prospects (June 2018)
- Julia Clark (NOMAD Science): “Looting and Climate Change Threats to Mongolian Archaeology and Cultural Heritage” (June 2018)
- Kim Dupont-Madinier (Rhode Island School of Design): Energy Efficient Gers for the Ger Districts (May 2018)
- Jonathan Addleton (Mercer University): Mongolia and the United States: The First 150 Years (May 2018)
- Sam Bass (Indiana University): The Bound Steppe: Notes on Enslavement in Qin Mongolia (April 2018)
- Anne-Sophie Pratte (Harvard University): Mapping the Land and Making Borders: A Study of the Mongolian Cartography from the late 18th to the Early 20th Century (April 2018)
- Daniel Miller (Mercy Corps) Where’s the Beef? Adapting Mongolian Cattle Raising Practices to Take Advantage of Growing Markets for Beef (March 2018)
- Petya Andreeva (University of Pennsylvania): Fantastic Beasts on the Eurasian Steppes: The Politics of Burial Regalia in Iron Age Funerary Art Along the Mongolian Steppes and Further West (March 2018)
- Kenneth Linden (Indiana University): Ravenous Bests, Pitiful Sinners and Class Enemies: A History of the Wolf in Mongolia (January 2018)
Attendance at Speaker Series events averages around 30-40 people. Using newly acquired audio-visual equipment, ACMS now records each speaker and posts them on the new ACMS YouTube channel, attracting hundreds of additional viewers from around the world.
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The ACMS Facebook page followers grew from 3,500 to 4,550 in 2018. The total number of fans grew from 3,500 to 4,500. Throughout the year, we organized 25 events, which reached 67.3k people and received 2.3k responses.
This Month in Mongolian Studies has an electronic distribution list exceeding 3,000 and is also accessible via Facebook.
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The most exciting new ACMS development for 2018 is an innovative grant from the Henry Luce Foundation that will help ACMS launch a series of Summer Field Schools in Mongolia over each of the next three years. The initial program will run from July 29 through August 16, 2019.
Discussions with the Henry Luce Foundation have been going on for some time, with former ACMS Executive Director Charles Krusekopf playing a lead role in obtaining this three-year, $560,000 grant. The grant provides “seed money” for ACMS to design the program as well as full or partial Fellowships for a number of successful applicants.
This summer is especially critical in terms of launching a successful program that attracts wide interest. Two deadlines were announced – February 15, 2019 for “priority applicants”; and April 30 for “regular” applicants. Over seventy applications had been received by the first deadline including an impressive mix of faculty, students and lifelong learners.
Specific ACMS Summer Field School programs for summer 2019 include: (1) Northern Mongolia Salvage Archaeology and Public Engagement led by Julia Clark from Nomad Science; (2) Migrants, Migration and Contemporary Livelihoods in Mongolia led by Holly Barcus from Macalester College; and (3) Mongolia’s Energy Transition led by Dr. Darrin Magee from Hobart and William Smith College and Dr. Charles Krusekopf from Royal Roads University.
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For the third time in six years, ACMS sponsored a Summer Seminar funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (July 16 – August 10, 2018). This year’s program involved 23 K-12 teachers from across the United States and was directed by Professor Morris Rossabi and David Dettman.
Titled Enduring Legacies of a Global Mongol Empire, the NEH seminar was hosted by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Several guest speakers had ACMS connections.
Back in Mongolia, ACMS also assisted the University of California-Berkeley’s Summer Institute Program (July 6-11, 2018). This Fulbright-Hayes-supported program involved sixteen K-12 teachers and five staff.
Previously, Berkeley had organized similar summer trips to China; this year Mongolia was added to the itinerary, providing opportunities for participants to learn about another, different part of Asia.
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Once again, ACMS conducted its annual Service Survey in Fall 2018, canvassing both ACMS members and “Friends of ACMS” for their views on the organization. This resulted in 43 responses – 21 from ACMS members and 22 from non-members.
Respondents represented a mix of faculty (9), independent scholars (16), staff researchers (4), students (3) and others (11). Individuals from a variety of academic disciplines also responded including the humanities (10), social sciences (21), natural sciences (9), education (1) and geography (1).
Responses were broadly positive about ACMS assistance in a wide range of areas, including establishing academic contacts, providing logistic support, obtaining reference material and responding to questions. Overall, 24 respondents stated that they were “very satisfied” with the service that they had received from ACMS – in contrast, one person stated that they were “very unsatisfied”.
The ACMS language teacher was singled out for special praise (“Tsermaa is a really fabulous teacher” and “I highly recommend Tsermaa for language training”), as was the ongoing ACMS Lectures Series in Ulaanbaatar (“The quality of the Speaker Series, graphics, audio and content has been great this year—much improved) and the ACMS newsletter, This Month in Mongolia Studies (“I want to thank you for your great newsletter—I follow this excellent work every time” and “I find the newsletter very good and important”)
Two other surveys focused on ACMS programs were launched in 2018, both designed to solicit feedback with a view toward further strengthening specific programs:
First, eight faculty and students participated in the ACMS Field Research Fellowship Program in Mongolia during summer 2018, representing one of the core contributions that ACMS makes in strengthening Mongolian studies in the United States. Six participants responded to an ACMS survey about their experience.
Most respondents stated that their Mongolia experience was “highly positive,” including support received from the ACMS office. Fellows learned about the program in a variety of ways including through on-line research, ACMS website, ACMS membership and through friends, colleagues and other students.
While quantitative responses were highly laudatory, the qualitative part offered constructive suggestions as well as praise. One person described the ACMS Field Research Fellowship as “an amazing opportunity”; another referred to the “freedom to carry out research without overt interference from funder”; and others variously described the program as “remarkable,” “smooth,” “rewarding,” “unique” and “great”.
Second, five students participated in the ACMS Intensive Summer Language Program in Ulaanbaatar during summer 2018, providing useful feedback as they reflected on their experiences. Most gave high marks to vital areas such as “meeting expectations,” “quality of instruction” and “would recommend to others”. Among other things, respondents praised both the ACMS Mongolian language teacher (“skilled and experienced teacher”) and the overall program (“not only met by expectations but exceeded them by a lot”).
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“ACMS is an important resource for any academic working in Mongolia” (Anonymous responded to ACMS Annual Service survey)
“This is a terrific program and one of the best ways to learn Mongolian in Mongolia” (Anonymous respondent to ACMS Language School survey)
“More than I could have hoped for – a wonderful, formative experience” (Anonymous respondent to ACMS Language School survey)
“An amazing opportunity to conduct research” (Anonymous respondent to ACMS Research Fellowship survey)
“All the personnel at ACMS in UB are extraordinary, no exceptions” (Anonymous respondent to ACMS Research Fellowship survey)
“The Fellowship is a unique opportunity to conduct research in Central Asia in connection with like-minded Mongolia enthusiasts” (Anonymous respondent to ACMS Research Fellowship Survey)
“I have been so fortunate to receive support from ACMS over the years, both financially and in terms of feeling at home in Mongolia” (Elizabeth Turk, former ACMS Fellow, now a Social Anthropologist at the University of Cambridge)
“I feel incredibly lucky to be part of the cultural heritage research community in Mongolia. There is so much passion and dedication among artists, scientists, scholars, museum professionals, writers and others in the field. It is both gratifying and humbling to be part of the network” (Dr. Julia Clark, outgoing ACMS Cultural Heritage Coordinator.
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Mongolian staff in Ulaanbaatar, working under the direction of Tricia Turbold, remains key to ACMS success, as ACMS members who visit Mongolia quickly discover.
ACMS continues to be located in downtown Ulaanbaatar as part of our very positive ongoing partnership with the Natsagdorj Public Library. During the early weeks of 2019, ACMS sponsored a Survival Mongolian course and a fifth annual Tsaagan Sar workshop for beginners that attracted 60 participants. Both programs were aimed at the expatriate population living in Ulaanbaatar.
ACMS welcomed one new part-time staff member to the UB office during 2018, communications specialist Natso Baatarkhuu. Already well travelled, he received his BA in English Philology from Tomas Bata University, and an MA in Creative Writing from Temple University as a Fulbright Scholar. Natso made many contributions during 2018, including in designing ACMS announcements, editing Speaker Series videos for YouTube, and strengthening our social media presence.
ACMS members who visit Mongolia will also be familiar with the rest of our outstanding Mongolian staff: General Manager Baigalmaa Begzsuren; Library and Media Coordinator Gantungaa “Ganaa” Tumurchudur; Language Program Manager Tsermaa Tomorbaatar; and Program Coordinator Tuvshinzaya Tumenbayar.
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| UPCOMING PROGRAMS FOR 2019 |
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The major new ACMS initiative for 2019 will be the Henry Luce Foundation-funded ACMS Summer Field School Program, bringing a significant number of students, faculty and lifelong learns to Mongolia to study archaeology, migration and renewable energy.
This first set of ACMS Summer Field Schools will run from July 29 through August 16, 2019. Activities will take place in Ulaanbaatar and around Lake Hatgal. A focus point for the UB office during the early part of the summer will be on finalizing arrangements for this program.
ACMS will also organize cultural activities for another group of ROTC cadets from across the US to during June 2018. Also, a group of 16 Mercer University students are expected to visit Mongolia during June as part of a summer service trip led by ACMS Executive Director Jonathan Addleton and former Mongolian Peace Corps Volunteer (and current PhD student at the University of Florida) Bryant Harden, working with the Mongolian NGO Children of the Peak to implement a summer enrichment camp.
In other activities taking place in early 2019, David Dettmann led a group of graduate students from University of Pennsylvania to Mongolia in February 2019 as part of a program managed by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Lauder Institute. Also, a group of students from Bryn Mawr is passing through town with ACMS again playing a part in helping to set up their program.
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The major new ACMS initiative for 2019 will be the Henry Luce Foundation-funded ACMS Summer Field School Program, bringing a significant number of students, faculty and lifelong learns to Mongolia to study archaeology, migration and renewable energy.
This first set of ACMS Summer Field Schools will run from July 29 through August 16, 2019. Activities will take place in Ulaanbaatar and around Lake Hatgal. A focus point for the UB office during the early part of the summer will be on finalizing arrangements for this program.
ACMS will also organize cultural activities for another group of ROTC cadets from across the US to during June 2018. Also, a group of 16 Mercer University students are expected to visit Mongolia during June as part of a summer service trip led by ACMS Executive Director Jonathan Addleton and former Mongolian Peace Corps Volunteer (and current PhD student at the University of Florida) Bryant Harden, working with the Mongolian NGO Children of the Peak to implement a summer enrichment camp.
In other activities taking place in early 2019, David Dettmann led a group of graduate students from University of Pennsylvania to Mongolia in February 2019 as part of a program managed by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Lauder Institute. Also, a group of students from Bryn Mawr is passing through town with ACMS again playing a part in helping to set up their program.
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As part of its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Mongolian National University of Education, ACMS provided the university with a three-day academic writing course (May 21-23, 2018) aimed at strengthening the writing skills of faculty and staff. Approximately 20 faculty and staff from the university attended.
Special thanks to the ACMS office in Ulaanbaatar for arranging this workshop. Also, special thanks to former ACMS Fellows Joseph Cleveland and Jessica Madison, as well as former Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Ryan Kertanis for providing their teaching skills throughout the course, thus making the ACMS contribution possible.
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After months of planning and preparation, ACMS officially launched its YouTube channel in September 2018. The channel is primarily used to share recordings of the bi-monthly lecture series, the ACMS Speaker Series, where presenters share their research findings related to Mongolia studies. Our channel already has 13.5k impressions and 1.9k total views for our 18 videos. Our current number of subscribers is 127. Thank you to those who have visited our channel. Please subscribe and share! http://www.youtube.com/c/ACMSMongolia
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