University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

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CSUN’s China Institute Awards Faculty Development Grants

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Dec. 14, 2006) -- In a continuing effort to strengthen ties between America and China, Cal State Northridge’s China Institute has awarded Faculty Development Grants for the 2006-07 academic year.

The grants were awarded to professors Alexis Krasilovsky and Yue "Jeff" Zhang for projects that will help advance the field of China studies.

"Though the work of each professor is different, both help to promote the understanding and collaboration between CSUN and Chinese scholars," said Justine Zhixin Su, director of the China Institute.

A professor in Northridge’s Department of Cinema and Television Arts, Krasilovsky worked as a camerawoman in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Her experiences led her to write "Women Behind the Camera: Conversations with Camerawomen," a book celebrating the emergence of women in a traditionally male-dominated field. That book soon evolved into a film.

The grant awarded by the institute was crucial in the completion of this film.

"After ‘Women Behind the Camera’ went into its second printing, I was well on my way toward making a film about camerawomen, expanding the concept from the United States and Hollywood to the world beyond," said Krasilovsky. "Enough women had climbed the ladder from camera assistant to director of photography that it was now possible to ask, how are women’s ways of seeing tied to social change?

"After many years of documenting the aspirations and obstacles, satisfactions and conflicts, failures and successes of camerawomen throughout the world, I grew to appreciate the resonance of their stories," she added. "In my documentary, we include Shu Shi Jun and Chen Jin Ti, pioneer camerawomen who were the first to embark on this career under the New China in 1949."

Krasilovsky plans to submit the film to several international film festivals in the United States and abroad. A university premiere is scheduled for March 16, 2007.

For more information regarding "Women Behind the Camera," visit the film’s Web site at www.womenbehindthecamera.com.

The second faculty development grant helped Zhang conduct field studies in China, collecting data for his research project, "The Readiness for and Current Development Status of e-Government in China."

A professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Studies, Zhang’s research is aimed at achieving an initial, yet systematic, understanding of major issues related to e-government in China.

"China has been doing pretty well in economic development in the past two decades as the result of its ‘reform and opening policies,’ " said Zhang. "But the country has not seen dramatic change in its political systems yet. E-government is believed to be an effective tool to improve the transparency of government operation and the interaction of the government and citizens, and one to improve citizens’ participation in their city management."

Zhang’s research will focus on understanding the current status of e-government in China, adapting current measures of e-readiness, applying the adapted measuring system to determine China’s e-government readiness, understanding China’s e-government initiatives from the perspectives of two different stakeholders -- Chinese citizens and Chinese government officials -- and understanding the impacts of infrastructure, economic development level and other factors on the readiness of e-government in China.

"Through the study of e-government in China we’ll be able to better assess related issues and identify points to change and leverage. Hopefully, this will help to encourage positive advances in China’s democracy and rule of law," said Zhang.

Cal State Northridge established the China Institute in 1982. The institute aims to promote better understanding of the Chinese culture and to strengthen friendship between the American and Chinese people. For more than 20 years, it has played host to hundreds of Chinese scholars and has been influential in arranging dozens of educational and cultural exchange programs between China and the United States. For more information about the institute, visit its Web site at www.csunchinainstitute.org.