Workshop Schedule
Date: Tuesdays, April 5, 12, 19, 26;
May 3, 2005 (Five Sessions)
Time: 5:30PM to 7:00PM
Place: 25 West 43rd Street, 18th Floor
between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan
Fee: $25 (To Cover Cost of Materials)
– Seating not guranteed unless payment received. Non-refundable after first session. –
Make check payable to: Queens College Agency – AO17
Mail to: Asian American / Asian Research Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, Room 1827, New York, NY 10036
This is an abbreviated survey of what constitutes the terrain of the so called Chinese mind. As revolutions come and go, dynasties rise and fall, for thousands of years, a relatively common theme threads through the lives of people in China. Facilitator will lead a workshop discussion to explore the major schools of thought in the Chinese society, including Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.
The following books will be used for reference and points of departure:
- A Short History of Chinese Philosophy: A Systemic Account of Chinese Thought from Origins to the Present Day. by Fung Yu-Lan, edited by Derk Bedde.
- Analects of Confucius. Translated by D.C. Lau.
- Mencius. Translated by Emile Zola and D.C. Lau.
- Tao Te Ching. Translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English.
- Way of Chuang Tzu. Translated by Thomas Merton.
- The Way to Buddhahood. By Rev. Yin Shun, and translated by Wing Yeung.
Author Bio
Dr. Thomas Tam was born on April 15, 1946 in Fujian, China, during the Chinese Civil War. He spent his childhood in Hong Kong where his parents had to rebuild their home from the ground up. Dr. Tam and his family immigrated to New York in 1964. He received BA in physics from City College of New York (1968), M.A. in film-making from Montclair State University (1978), M.P.H. from Columbia University School of Public Health (1980); and Ph.D. in SocioMedical Sciences from Columbia University (1983). He is Chairman of the Asian American Higher Education Council, and Executive Director of Asian American/Asian Research Institute, as well as the President of Oishi Movies, Inc. which produced a feature: Sunrise on Mulberry Street.
After graduating from City College of New York, Tam developed an active interest in community improvement in Chinatown, when he initiated a ten-day health fair which screened two thousand five hundred residents, leading to the establishment of Chinatown Health Clinic, now known as the Charles B. Wang Health Center. Tam’s career in community health continued when he became administrators of various City-wide health agencies. He taught at Columbia University, Herbert Lehman College, and St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.
In 1989, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York as the first Chinese American member. Dr. Tam worked with a group of faculty members to establish the Asian American Higher Education Council, an organization which addresses critical issues concerning higher education in the Asian American community. Under Tam’s leadership, this organization has successfully organized numerous conferences and the creation of the Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI), where he served as Executive Director from 2001 to 2006.
In addition to his contribution to the fields of community health and higher education, Dr. Tam also has an abiding interest in movie making, an avocation which he has nurtured since college. He has produced many short movies which have been exhibited at various institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art. Tam has also founded the Asian American Film Festival in 1972, which became Asian Cine Vision, an organization with international recognition for showcasing movies from Asian/Asian American artists. Dr. Tam is a recent convert to Buddhism and has completed a documentary video, En Route to Lhasa.
Dr. Tam is survived by his wife Margaret, his daughter Anika, and step-children Emily and Victor.
