Student Awarded Chinese Language Scholarship

University of Scranton student Mary-Katherine Cotter ’22, Massapequa, New York, was awarded a 2021 Huayu Enrichment Chinese Language Immersion Scholarship from the Education Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York. The scholarship will allow her to study Mandarin at Fu Jen Catholic University, a Jesuit university in Taipei, Taiwan, during the summer.

The scholarship was established in 2005 by Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to encourage international students and individuals to study the Mandarin Chinese language in Taiwan.

A dean’s list student at Scranton, Cotter is studying both Chinese and Japanese languages at the Jesuit university. She is a history and political science double major with an Asian studies concentration. She also participates in the University’s undergraduate Honors Program.

With support from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, the University has strengthened its Chinese language program and hosted numerous events that showcase and educate members of the University and greater Scranton community about Taiwanese culture. During the past decade, the University has hosted a Taiwan Bangzi Opera Company performance of an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice;” the Taiwanese Film and Cultural Festival; and performances by the Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company and the Chai Found Music Workshop, among other enrichment and educational events.

In 2012, the University was formally presented with the Kinmen Peace Bell Replica by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York in recognition of the cordial relationship and collaboration between the University and the various government agencies and universities of Taiwan. The Peace Bell, engraved with the word “peace” in more than 100 languages, can be seen in the atrium of the Loyola Science Center.