After his eighth-year review, Sonam Tsering has been promoted to Senior Lecturer. This is the first time for one of our language instructors to earn this title, and his promotion thus marks an important milestone for the Tibetan Language Program as well. Gen Sonam Tsering has served as Director of the Tibetan language program at Columbia since 2014, and is responsible for teaching all three levels of modern Tibetan.
Originally from Rebgong (Qinghai, PRC), Sonam later lived in the Tibetan community in exile in India, co-founding and editing Bod kyi dus bab (Tibet Times newspaper). Sonam completed a degree in social anthropology at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), University of London, in 2005. Between 2009 and 2014, he taught Tibetan language at SOAS, the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris, and the University of Michigan. Since Sonam’s arrival at Columbia University, enrollments have more than doubled. He facilitates distance language teaching that reaches Cornell and Yale Universities.
This summer, Sonam Tsering was invited to assist Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Bylakuppe, India, to review their Tibetan language curriculum and assist in establishing an online school. He continues to support this project and applies his pedagogical expertise to help train teachers from the monastery. He is currently developing textbooks and workbooks here at Columbia with plans to share them to reach a wider audience elsewhere.
