Anna Shields, honors college, tapped for new roles

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:00:00 -0400
ovpr-news-2011

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Chelsea Haddaway
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Anna Shields, director of the Honors College and associate professor of Chinese, has been elected the President of the T’ang Studies Society. The society is dedicated to furthering research and education about China during the T’ang dynasty. Shields is a researcher of T’ang China.

The society has about 120 members. Shields has served as an elected executive board member and co-organized the society’s 25th anniversary conference in 2009, which attracted scholars from around the world. Shields is the first woman to serve as president, and was the youngest female scholar to be published in their journal.

Shields has also been named the East Asia section editor for the Journal of the American Oriental Society. The journal is divided into four regions - Asia, Ancient and Near East, Southern and Inner Asia, and Islam – and examines the literature, religion, and philosophy of each.

“As a literary scholar, I’m also interested in religion and philology,” Shields said. She has previously published an article and book reviews in the journal.

Shields will be officially installed into both roles at the annual conference of the American Oriental Society this week in Chicago. The T’ang Studies Society is not affiliated with the American Oriental Society.