Chinese Program Awards & Scholarships

Professor Adele Austin Rickett came to UMD as the chair to build the program of Chinese and East Asian Studies in 1979. Adele had a legendary experience in China. As graduate students, Adele and her husband, Allyn, were doing research in China when the communist government took over in 1949. They were arrested as CIA agents and put into prison for four years in the early 1950s. Curiously though, instead of becoming embittered by that experience, their love of China only deepened. Upon release from prison, they wrote a book called "Prisoners of Liberation." Afterwards, they devoted themselves solely to the academic study of Chinese history and literature. After Adele passed away in 1994, her husband established this endowment to honor her memory and her undimmed love of China and Chinese culture. Up to five scholarships are awarded to qualified Chinese majors and minors every spring.

Professor Tsung Chin started teaching at the Chinese Program in 1969. He began to offer a Chinese calligraphy course in the early 1980s, which became one of the most popular in SLLC. His contribution to calligraphy education goes beyond UMD. He found a calligraphy group in the Chinese language teachers’ association where he promoted the teaching of Chinese through calligraphy throughout the country. He passed away in 2006. This endowment is established in his memory to promote students’ interest in Chinese calligraphy.  Up to four scholarships are awarded to qualified students of Chinese calligraphy every spring semester.