Gift endows a new professorship in Asian art

Heidi Niblack, left, and Charles Chu, right, applaud Qiang Ning. Photo by A. Vincent Scarano

CC’s growing Asian studies program — with roots in one of the first Chinese departments created by an American liberal arts college — will be broadened and deepened by a new endowed professorship funded by Heidi and John Niblack P’98.

The Chu-Niblack Chair in Asian Art and Curator of the Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection will also expand the global reach of the art history department and museum studies program.

“Our students travel routinely to China, Japan, Vietnam and India for study, research and internships, and the Chu-Niblack professor will send them to this region of the world much better equipped to appreciate what they experience there,” said Dean of the Faculty Frances Hoffmann.

“Asian studies are alive and well on this campus,” she said. The number of CC students majoring in East Asian languages and cultures has doubled in the past five years. The interdisciplinary program includes faculty with Asian expertise in the departments of east Asian languages and cultures, history, music, dance, economics, government, religious studies and — now — art history.

The new professor will be Qiang Ning, a specialist in Chinese art and religion. He comes to CC from the University of Michigan.

The Niblacks, longtime supporters of CC, donated $2 million to establish the professorship in honor of Charles Chu, professor emeritus of Chinese. Chu assembled much of the Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection and was its founding curator.

Hoffmann said it's wonderful to have actual artwork for students to see, feel and study in person, not in slides or books, as they learn about the techniques and aesthetics of Chinese scrolls and paintings.

Chu, an accomplished painter and calligrapher, founded CC's Chinese department in 1965. He and John Niblack, who is also a CC trustee, developed a close friendship through their shared passion for Asian art.