UPEI’s Asian Studies Program hosts international conference
The University of Prince Edward Island’s interdisciplinary Asian Studies Program will host an international conference on Asian Studies from June 14 to 15 in the SDU Main Building’s Faculty Lounge.
The conference, “Good and Evil in Korean Philosophy, Religion, and Spirituality: Korean Ideas and their Global Implications,” will include five interesting and engaging panels featuring 16 prominent and promising scholars from Korea, Japan, Canada, and the USA. They will discuss Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and related topics, comparative studies, and Japan’s famous “Kyoto School” (Zen and comparative philosophy/theology).
The opening keynote speech, “Evil and Theodicy in the Buddhist Tradition,” will be presented by Dr. Robert E. Buswell Jr., Irving and Jean Stone, Endowed Chair in Humanities at UCLA, Distinguished Professor of Buddhist Studies, and Founding Director of the Center for Buddhist Studies and the Center for Korean Studies, UCLA. Dr. Buswell is a very famous international scholar who has published 16 books on various aspects of the Korean, Chinese, and Indian traditions of Buddhism, as well as on Korean religions more broadly. He was elected president of the Association for Asian Studies in 2008. He was the recipient of the prestigious Manhae Grand Prize (2009) in recognition of his pioneering contributions to establishing Korean Buddhist Studies in the West. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.
“This conference will help us to strengthen UPEI’s international reputation, expand its global exchange and partnership, and recruit more international students from Asian countries,” said Dr. Edward Chung, Asian Studies and Korean Studies Project Director at UPEI.
The conference is hosted and funded by the University of Prince Edward Island and the Korean Studies Project, and co-organized by UPEI’s Asian Studies and the North American Korean Philosophy Association affiliated with the American Philosophical Association.
Dr. Chung noted that the UPEI Asian-Korean Studies Project received a top score from the Academy of Korean Studies for its first year of performance. The Academy of Korean Studies is South Korea’s leading graduate studies institute dedicated to international research and teaching in Korean Studies.
“Thanks to the hard work of Dr. Edward Chung and his colleagues, the Korean Studies program at UPEI has achieved an enviable international reputation, as evidenced by the broad array of renowned scholars participating in this conference,” said Dr. Robert Gilmour, UPEI Vice-President, Academic and Research. “Our students and faculty are fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from this impressive group of delegates.”
“The Faculty of Arts is delighted to host such a high profile international conference,” said Dr. Neb Kujundzic, Dean of Arts at UPEI. “Congratulations to Dr. Edward Chung for doing an excellent job organizing this conference.”
For more information about the conference, please contact Dr. Chung at chung@upei.ca or (902) 566-0324.
