It has been a privilege to direct Columbia’s Modern Tibetan Studies Program (MTSP) for the last couple of years, working together with a team of talented scholars, students, and colleagues at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and C.V. Starr East Asian Library. We celebrated a milestone—MTSP’s 20th year anniversary—with a series of over twenty events in 2019 alone, the publication of a 20th anniversary report, and the launch of our new website. It has also been exciting to grow the MTSP in new directions, notably, building a regional hub of Tibetan studies scholars and institutions, collaborating with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory on climate science research in Tibet, and working with our students and hub partners to expand our events to encompass diverse topics at the forefront of the field.
It is thus bittersweet to share the news that I will be moving on from Columbia to take a Tibetan studies position at Indiana University in the fall. It was a truly difficult decision to make, in no small part because of the supportive and vibrant Tibetan studies community here at Columbia and in the greater New York region.
The search for a new director will be underway soon and I look forward to watching the MTSP at Columbia continue to grow and thrive under a new directorship and with the strengths that its faculty, students, staff, and partners bring to the program.
Sincerely,
Eveline Washul
Director, Modern Tibetan Studies Program, Weatherhead East Asian Institute
