Letter from the Directors

Gray Tuttle with Eveline Washul

More than two decades ago, a novel idea was born – to bring a contemporary focus to Tibetan studies. Upon its establishment in fall 1999, the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University became the first academic program dedicated to modern Tibet. Now, twenty years later, we step back to survey the achievements of the Program and its unique contribution to the study of modern Asia, with an eye to the future.

Columbia’s Modern Tibetan Studies Program (MTSP) started as a vision of Professor Madeleine Zelin, then director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute (WEAI). The Program was formalized when Mr. Robert Barnett was invited to teach part-time and host talks on contemporary Tibet as a WEAI Visiting Research Scholar. Over time, the Program evolved; its community of faculty and scholars grew, encompassing language teachers and library staff. It has since become the most robust program in Tibetan studies in North America, with scholars in religion, history, literature, anthropology, film, and culture. 

Today, the MTSP is comprised of faculty, staff, students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates, and visiting scholars. They collaborate across the University with the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, the Department of Religion, Barnard College, the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, as well as with other schools and organizations in the region. 

It is a time of exciting change for the Program, with greater synergy between all aspects of the Program and a renewed vigor brought by engaging with younger, multidisciplinary scholars with fresh ideas and energy. We will continue to support these innovative minds and serve as a vehicle for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty to bring new ideas to the fore. The MTSP has also taken concrete steps to strengthen the partnerships with area museums and non-profits to make the most of academic resources for modern Tibetan studies that exist at Columbia and in New York City for the benefit of our wider academic community. 

With these changes, we aim to bring modern Tibet into academic and public conversations and to engage the study of modern Tibetan culture and society with global intellectual trends.

Dr. Eveline Washul, Director, Modern Tibetan Studies Program, 2019-present

Professor Gray Tuttle, Leila Hadley Luce Professor of Modern Tibetan Studies, Director of Modern Tibetan Studies Program, 2018-2019