NIU Southeast Asian Studies Center awarded $300K grant to create more teaching positions

DeKALB – Northern Illinois University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies and Department of Philosophy recently was awarded an American Council of Learned Societies grant to create more teaching positions.

The $300,000 grant will provide recipients seed funding for four years, according to a news release. The university was selected by the 2025 Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation New Professorship in Buddhist Studies.

“The 12th cohort of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies exemplifies how contemporary Buddhist studies scholarship can bridge historical understanding with present-day challenges,” ACLS international programs director Deena Ragavan said in a news release. “These impressive fellows and grantees demonstrate a commitment to bringing new perspectives on Buddhist traditions, thought and philosophy grounded in rigorous research.”

NIU will join other institutions in the U.S., France, Hungary, Mexico and Thailand that also have received program professorships. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will support a permanent tenure-track professor position after the grant’s administration.

“I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to bring on a new faculty member supported by this wonderful grant,” College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Brinkmann said. “The area of Buddhist studies is new to NIU but nestles nicely into the nexus of our great expertise in Southeast Asia and philosophy. I know our students and community stakeholders are very interested in this topic.”

The position will be a joint appointment between the philosophy department and Southeast Asian Studies Center. Professor of philosophy and Chair Jason Hanna described the movement into new schools of thought as “uncharted territory” for NIU.

A 300-level undergraduate course will be debuted during the 2026-27 academic year. The course counts toward a Southeast Asian Studies undergraduate minor.

“One of the major benefits for the philosophy department will be in the area of curriculum,” Hanna said. “The courses we currently teach focus on contemporary analytic philosophy and philosophical traditions from ancient Greece to early modern Europe. In recent years, we haven’t had anyone who teaches primarily from a non-Western perspective.”

Center for Southeast Asian Studies Director and anthropology professor Ivan Small said the new philosophy professorship starting in fall 2026 will comprise the center’s third affiliate professorship in as many years.

The NIU English Department hired assistant professor of Southeast Asian and Southeast Asian American literatures, medias and cultures Reuven Pinnata in fall 2024. The university’s political science faculty will welcome Mai Van Tran, a specialist in digital repression by and resistance against authoritarian regimes in Southeast Asia, in the fall.

“This grant allows the center to grow alongside a department we’ve never worked with before,” Small said. “The philosophy department’s master’s program is very highly ranked, and NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies is one of only seven nationally recognized regional studies resource centers focused on the area, so we’re excited about the confluence there. It broadens research opportunities and our prospective student pool.”

NIU received the highest funding amount out of 25 scholars and institutions awarded fellowships and grants through the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies. The program promotes the understanding and interpretation of Buddhist thought in scholarship and society, strengthens international networks of Buddhist scholars, and increases the visibility of new knowledge and research on Buddhist traditions.