A Festschrift for Professor Jonathan Chaves

October 25, 2017

Cambria Press published a Festschrift, The Poet as Scholar: Essays and Translations in Honor of Jonathan Chaves, edited by Professor David K. Schneider. Professor Schneider is an Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He recently wrote to the Department describing the deep impact that Professor Chaves had on his career:

"I had a very short but very powerful experience at The George Washington University. It set me on a new career path. Let me explain. I came to GW as an established Foreign Service Officer. I had just completed a three year assignment in Beijing, China, as a Commercial Officer. My new assignment was as Commercial Attaché at the American Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia. As part of that job I was sent to the Foreign Service Institute in Virginia for Russian language education. While there I went to visit the eminent professor of Chinese literature Jonathan Chaves. He agreed to do an independent study with me in classical Chinese. Over that one semester, Dr. Chaves helped me both to achieve a summation of some of my oldest intellectual and academic interests, and to chart a new post-Foreign Service career path. After my tour in Russia, I decided to pursue a PhD in East Asian Languages and Cultures at University of California, Berkeley. Soon after I published my first book Confucian Prophet: Political Thought in Du Fu’s Poetry 752-757, Cambira Press, 2012. Dr. Chaves was ready with his support all the way through my doctoral studies and beyond. I am now Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and presently director of that program, at University of Massachusetts Amherst."