International Relations

University of Massachusetts > International Relations > International Relations- Confucius Institute

The Confucius Institute

The Confucius Institute is a non-profit education organization that is a partnership between the University of Massachusetts and the Office of Chinese Language International Council's (Hanban). The Confucius Institute promotes the teaching and understanding of Mandarin language and Chinese culture by offering Mandarin language courses and providing professional training to Mandarin language teachers.

Location

The University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute is a system-wide entity with an office in the McCormack Building on the UMass Boston Campus.

Campus Engagement

The five University of Massachusetts campuses are engaged in a range of research and training programs, focused on Chinese language and culture.

In an effort to encourage system-wide participation, an Advisory Council to the Director was established. The membership of the Advisory Council is comprised of at least one representative from each campus. The goal of this Council is to provide the Director with suggestions and advice. The Director reports to the Governing Board of the UMass Confucius Institute. The governing board is the responsible entity for the UMass Confucius Institute and is comprised of representatives from UMass and Renmin University, the partner institution in China.

Campus Advisory Council to the Interim Director of the UMass Confucius Institute

• CHAIR, Winston Langley, Ph.D., Associate Chancellor for Academic Affairs (UMass Boston)
• VICE CHAIR, Linsun Cheng, Ph.D., Professor of History (UMass Dartmouth)
• Kristin Esterberg, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology (UMass Lowell)
• Frank Hugus, Ph.D., Associate Provost (UMass Amherst)
• Shan Lu, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Laboratory of Nucleic Acid Vaccines (UMass Worcester)

Governing Board Members of the UMass Confucius Institute

• CHAIR Marcellette Williams, Ph.D., Sr. Vice President, UMass President's Office
• VICE CHAIR Madam Liu Pengzhi, Vice President, Renmin University, Principle of Renmin High School
• Ji Baocheng, President, Renmin University of China
• Jack M. Wilson, President, University of Massachusetts
• Yulu Chen, Vice President, Renmin University of China
• Jack Driscoll, Esq., Senior Partner, Nutter, MeClennon and Fish
• Allan Guo, Senior Advisor to the President for China Affairs, UMass President's Office (ex. officio)

UMass Confucius Institute Contacts

Interim Director
Allan Guo, Senior Advisor to the President for China Affairs
aguo@umassp.edu

Interim Associate Director
BaiFeng Sun
baifeng.sun@umb.edu

Community Engagement

Various public schools have already engaged the University of Massachusetts Confucius Institute in initiatives that further the teaching of Mandarin. CLASS and Primary Source, organizations that provide learning opportunities and curriculum resources for K-12 educators, have worked with the Confucius Institute to disseminate Chinese language and cultural programming to its partner institutions. Communities throughout New England are welcome to participate in many Confucius Institute events and can request information through the Confucius Institute Website.

The PDF files on this page require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.