Alumnus to direct Beijing study program

BY LISA TREI

Jason Patent, a linguistics scholar and university alumnus, has been named director of the new Overseas Studies Program in Beijing, following an international search.

The program, based at Peking University in the People's Republic of China, will admit up to 30 undergraduates during the inaugural Autumn Quarter in 2004. Courses also will be taught during Spring Quarter in 2005.

Patent, 35, earned a bachelor's degree in East Asian studies from Harvard in 1990, a master's in the same field from Stanford in 1994, and master's and doctoral degrees in linguistics from the University of California-Berkeley, in 1996 and 2003, respectively. Most recently, Patent was a research associate at the Rockridge Institute, a Berkeley-based think tank, where he conducted linguistic and conceptual analyses of political language.

Patent has taught linguistics, Mandarin Chinese and English as a second language. Since 1991, he has lived in several parts of China, including the northeastern border province of Heilongjiang, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Beijing. Patent also has led educational trips and developed programs in China for American high school students.

In announcing the new position, geophysics Professor Amos Nur, the Burke Family Director of Overseas Studies, said: "[Patent] has dealt with many of the issues that make up our daily work and brings expertise on the educational, social and developmental challenges that arise from guiding young adults through transformative experiences."

Patent said he is looking forward to moving to Beijing this summer with his family -- his daughter was born in China -- and welcoming the first group of Stanford students. Participants will live in two-person suites in an international dormitory at Beida, as Peking University is known locally, and eat meals in campus dining halls. Beyond the academic courses, Patent said much of the students' lasting experiences will come from living in a very different culture. "I want the program to blow their minds," he said. "I want them to say, 'My world has been totally rocked.' I want to see the looks on [their] faces. That excitement -- it happens every time I go back."

Students admitted to the program must have studied Chinese for at least a year. Albert Dien, professor emeritus of Chinese, will be in residence during the fall to teach The Chinese Past: The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology and Beijing: The City and Its Significance in History and Tradition. Three levels of Mandarin instruction will be offered and faculty from Beida will teach courses, in English, titled Comparative Legal Systems, Philosophy and Religion: East vs. West and Environmental Challenges in Developing China. During the Spring Quarter, Harold Kahn, professor emeritus of history, will be the Stanford faculty member in residence. He will teach courses titled The Emperor's City: Imperial Conceptions of Urban Space and Food in Chinese History.