This week we say farewell to our Thai language instructor, Dr. Wiworn Kesavatana-Dohrs, who is retiring. We also celebrate our MA students who graduated this week and the recipients of our endowed fellowships.
With mixed emotions, the Southeast Asia Center would like to announce the retirement of Dr. Wiworn Kesavatana-Dohrs. We are saddened by her departure, but excited for her future endeavors. “Ajarn” Som is completing 27 years teaching Thai at UW after arriving here in the fall of 1989. She had just completed a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Michigan on the Thai auto industry when she began her career here at UW. Her dedication to Thai language and to the Southeast Asian studies community at UW over the past three decades has been deeply felt and much appreciated. All of us here at the Southeast Asia Center wish her the best of luck with the wonderful things that come next for her.
This year we also recognize our graduate students who received fellowships for their hard work and research in Southeast Asian Studies. The Thomas W. & Mary C. Gething Fellowship has been funding graduate student travel since 2005. The Charles and Jane Keyes Endowed Fund in Southeast Asia Studies has been funding graduate students since 2007.
The Charles and Jane Keyes Endowed Fund in Southeast Asia studies provides financial assistance to graduate students specializing in Southeast Asia. Charles “Biff” Keyes is the founding director of the Southeast Asia Center. From his first days at UW in 1965 to his retirement in 2006, Keyes strived to make a small group of Southeast Asia-focused lectures into the Southeast Asia Center that we know today.
The recipients of the 2016-2017 Charles and Jane Keyes Endowed Fund in Southeast Asia studies are:
Meixi Ng
Dimas Romadhon
Imam Subkhan
The Thomas W. & Mary C. Gething Fellowship provides financial assistance for graduate student travel to present papers at professional conferences for those whose work is focused on Southeast Asian studies. Thomas W. Gething made numerous contributions to the development of Southeast Asia studies including assisting with achieving Title VI funding and coordinating the Southeast Asian studies language center.
The recipients of the 2016-2017 Thomas W. & Mary C. Gething Fellowship are:
Adrian Alarilla
Jorge Bayona
Mikhail Echavarri
Lin Hongxuan
Erin McAuliffe
Kasey Rackowitz
This year we are also presenting the very first Christen J. Grorud Endowed Memorial Fellowship in honor of Christen J. Grorud, a dearly beloved member of the Southeast Asian Studies community at the university who passed away in 2016. This fellowship provides broad-based direct financial support to graduate students studying Indonesia in our center. The family of Christen J. Grorud simply ask that the recipient “remembers there was a young man who found great joy and deep satisfaction in doing what they are doing now. Remember his name, and find those ways to make their mark and the world and their name known as well. They hope this scholarship will bless them on their journey in life.”
The recipient of the Christen J. Grorud Endowed Memorial Fellowship for the academic year 2017-2018 is Dimas Romadhon. Dimas is in our MA program for Southeast Asian Studies and comes from Madura, Indonesia. His research focuses on the historiography of leprosy in Madura through various versions of the story Bangsacara Ragapadmi.
A final 2017-2018 award was announced at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS) Department Convocation to the pleasant surprise of two of our MA students. Shannon Bush and Erin McAuliffe tied for the highest GPA out of all JSIS graduate students. They were both presented with the JSIS Graduate Book Award.
Lastly, we would like to say farewell and congratulations toall four of our MA students graduating this year – Shannon Bush, Erin McAuliffe, Daniel Murphree and Kasey Rackowitz. We wish you well in your future endeavors and hope you all keep us updated about your wonderful adventures ahead.
– The Southeast Asia Center