Van Slyke, Lyman P. (2016)
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Lyman P. Van Slyke is an emeritus history professor at Stanford University. His contributions range from developing innovative courses to leading study trips for alumni. In his oral history, Van Slyke, known as “Van” to many, recounts his life and career, the bulk of which--beginning in 1963--were spent at Stanford as an historian of modern China. He discusses the socio-political setting of his career and the impact of global events on the campus community. Van Slyke grew up in a mining town in the Mesabi Iron Range of Minnesota where his father was a mining engineer. He attended Carleton College as an undergraduate and graduated with an “accidental” major in mathematics. Here, as elsewhere, Van Slyke stresses how many important junctures in his life were the results of accident or happenstance. After graduation, Van Slyke applied to the naval officer candidate program. He describes his military experience as life changing. The Navy assigned Van Slyke to the aviation intelligence division. He recounts his introduction to Asia during the Korean War and his decision to pursue a master’s program in East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Although Van Slyke intended to specialize in Japan, he took a Chinese class first and became thoroughly engaged. He recalls with great enthusiasm of his PhD studies at Berkeley, including two years on Taiwan. After five years in Berkeley, Van Slyke moved to Taiwan to improve his language abilities and conduct research. He recalls fondly the time he and his family spent there. And he soon became involved with what was later known as the Inter-University Language Program, an important training ground for East Asian specialists across the country. As his PhD program in history concluded, Stanford offered Van Slyke a position as assistant professor. Van Slyke arrived at Stanford in 1963. He discusses the makeup of the department and some of the programs he assisted. He worked in varying capacities for over thirty years with the Inter-University language center. It began as a Stanford-only program but quickly expanded to a consortium of eight universities aimed at providing a language learning program for intermediate to advanced students. Van Slyke also explains the origins of Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies, of which he was the first director, “warming the seat” for Prof. John Lewis of political science, who came to Stanford from Cornell in the late 1960s. He discusses the difficult politics surrounding a multidisciplinary center like this one. Having served on the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) committee at Stanford, Van Slyke describes how the committee debated the future of ROTC on campus, with the main issues being faculty appointments, the academic level of courses, and the enlisting requirement for those who failed to complete the program. Van Slyke highlights that shifting attitudes towards the Vietnam War and unrest unfolding around campus greatly affected this process, particularly the discovery of the university’s involvement with the Department of Defense and the Stanford Research Institute. Van Slyke also describes an innovative course called World Outside the West that was created by three Stanford professors including him. It was a two-quarter course that focused on China, Mesoamerica and Nigeria, using a thematic approach. Van Slyke explains how this unconventional model could be applied to study any culture and that it changed how students could fulfill their undergraduate breadth requirements for coursework. Van Slyke concludes his oral history by discussing two additional projects significant to him: Yangtze River research and the Stanford Travel/Study trips he led to introduce alumni to the complexity of China. Van Slyke concludes his interview with a discussion of his research since his retirement of an enigmatic character named Chi Liang (Liang Chi in Chinese) and the impact Liang’s ideas and suicide had on China.
Description
Type of resource | mixed material |
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Date created | July 12, 2016 - July 26, 2016 |
Creators/Contributors
Author | Van Slyke, Lyman P. | |
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Contributing author | Marincovich, Michele | |
Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
Subject | Lyman P. Van Slyke |
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Subject | Stanford Historical Society |
Subject | oral histories |
Subject | interviews |
Subject | higher education |
Subject | professors |
Subject | Department of History |
Subject | Inter-University Language Program |
Subject | Center for East Asian Studies |
Subject | ROTC |
Subject | Stanford Travel/Study |
Bibliographic information
Related item |
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Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/xb040kt6820 |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
Van Slyke, Lyman P. (2016).
Oral History. Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program Interviews (SC0932).
Department of Special Collections & University Archives, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/xb040kt6820.
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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- Contact
- universityarchives@stanford.edu
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