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 Western
Branch
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History and Purpose of the AOS
The AOS is the oldest learned society in the United States devoted to a particular field of scholarship. The Society was founded in 1842, preceded only by such distinguished organizations of general scope as the American Philosophical Society (1743), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1780), and the American Antiquarian Society (1812). From the beginning its aims have been humanistic. The encouragement of basic research in the languages and literatures of Asia has always been central in its tradition. This tradition has come to include such subjects as philology, literary criticism, textual criticism, paleography, epigraphy, linguistics, biography, archaeology, and the history of the intellectual and imaginative aspects of Asian civilizations, especially of philosophy, religion, folklore, and art.
Website: http://www.aos-site.org/
The Western Branch of the AOS
1. A Brief Description of the Western Branch
The Western Branch of the AOS was founded in 1951,
and its annual meetings have become an important forum for
scholars of pre-modern Asia. While in recent years papers
presented at the annual meetings have largely centered on China,
they have not been exclusively so. The Western Branch actively
encourages scholars with a wide range of regional specialties as
well as comparative interests to participate.
Western Branch Procedures of Operation
2. Officers of the Western Branch
President
YUMING HE
(2024-2025)
East Asian Languages and Cultures
University of California Davis
313 Sprout Hall
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Vice-President
TIMOTHY WAI KEUNG CHAN
(2024-2025)
Department of Chinese Language and Literature
Hong Kong Baptist University
224 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong
Hong Kong
Immediate Past President
RICHARD VANNESS SIMMONS
(2024-2025)
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
Rutgers University
Scott Hall, Room 330
43 College Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Secretary-Treasurer
TIMOTHY DAVIS (2021-2026)
Asian Studies Librarian
5449 Harold B. Lee Library
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
Executive Committee
ex officio
YUMING HE (2021-2027), University of California Davis
TIMOTHY CHAN (2023-2029), Hong Kong Baptist University
RICHARD VANNESS SIMMONS (2019-2025), Rutgers University
TIMOTHY DAVIS (2021-2026), Brigham Young University
elected members
KAY DUFFY (2023-2026), University of British Columbia
YUNSHUANG ZHANG (2023-2026), Wayne State University
CHARLES SANFT (2024-2027), University of Tennessee, Knoxville
YAO ZHUMING (2024-2027), University of Boston
3. Daniel Bryant Memorial
Fellowship Fund
In 2014, Daniel Bryant, former president of the Western
Branch (2013-2014) passed away. Please see the announcement
by Richard King and Lin Tsung-Cheng. To honor Daniel's
enthusiastic, life-long commitment to the mission and activities
of the Western Branch, the AOS has created
the Daniel Bryant Memorial
Fellowship Fund to help support participation in the annual
meetings of the Western Branch. To make a tax-deductible
donation to this fund, please contact the Secretary-Treasurer, Timothy Davis.
4. Meetings of the Western Branch
**2025 Annual Meeting: October 16-18 at the University of Colorado, Boulder**
2024 Annual Meeting Announcement & Call-for-Papers
Archive: Programs and Abstracts from Previous Meetings
Most recently updated: 10/10/2023