The first Guangzhou University-Wesleyan College American Cultural Centre 2014 Symposium kicked off on March 6th. Professor Zou Cairong,President of Guangzhou University, Sheila Taylor Shamber, Deputy Councilor of the US Consulate in Guangzhou, Professor Vivian L.Fowler, Vice President of Wesleyan College, Vanessa Beasley,Director of American programs of Vanderbilt University, professors of Vanderbilt University and leaders of Guangzhou University were present in the Launch Ceremony.
This lecture series brings us ten lectures on American culture. It is the third large scale academic event on Sino-US cultural exchanges after the Confucius Institute jointly run by Guangzhou University and Wesleyan College was inaugurated last April and the AAC was launched last May. In his speech in the launch ceremony, President Zou Cairong emphasized the important role universities play in guiding the cultural development as an important force to drive up social progress. He further gave credits of the role the ACC plays in facilitating Sino-US cultural dialogues as an important window to the American culture in South China. This academic event will bring the faculty and students a fresh, vivid and multi-angle experience on American culture, bringing further vitality to the campus culture and promoting the comprehensive and deep educational cooperation and exchanges between Guangzhou University and overseas universities. Doctor Fowler and Professor Beasley also expressed their expectations on this lecture series.
After the launching ceremony, Doctor Matthew Martin and Doctor Vanessa Beasley gave the talks entitled The Invisible World in Solid America: Constructing Identity in Late Twentieth-Century American Fiction and U.S. Presidents’ Mixed Messages on Immigration, 1880–2000 respectively. The vivid presentations by the professors and involvement by the students who were eager to raise their hands for questions helped to reinforce an immense interaction in the lecture room.
Written by: Guangzhou University-Wesleyan College American Cultural Centre
Translated by: Ye Qing
Source: GU News (Chinese)
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