KU graduate students receive 2 of 10 scholarships from Taiwanese government

LAWRENCE -- University of Kansas graduate students Perry Ernest Caldwell IV and Sheri Martin each have been selected as two of 10 students in the United States to receive a scholarship worth about $8,600 from the Taiwanese government to study there in the 2003-04 academic year.

Caldwell, a master's degree student in East Asian languages and cultures, is studying at the International Chinese Language Program at Taiwan National University during the 2003-04 academic year. His work with the Chinese language there will enable him to research his master's thesis on Taoism in post-1949 Taiwan. A native of Columbus, Miss., he earned a bachelor's degree in history and American studies from the University of Alabama in 2002.

Martin, a master's degree student in education from Topeka, is working as a graduate teaching assistant in KU's Center for Applied Studies and has deferred acceptance of the Tawainese government scholarship until a later date. She graduated from KU in May 2001 with a bachelor's degree in Italian and creative writing and worked with the Literacy Americorps program as an English as a second language program coordinator with the Indochina Chinese Refugee Association from September to December 2001. Before returning to KU to begin her master's degree work, she worked for Project Finish, an adult basic-education program at Johnson County Community College, from January to July 2002. She is studying the Chinese language to help with her master's thesis research on developments in Taiwan in teaching English as a second language.

The Center for East Asian Studies recommended Caldwell and Martin for the scholarship program to the U.S. Department of Education. The Education Department then recommended the students to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, which administers the program.

The program provides students with intensive language instruction and reading skills in general materials and in various disciplines or professional fields.