Congratulations to Coleton Hast, one of the 2020 Stahr Award recipients. Coleton is majoring in Linguistic Anthropology and Environmental and Sustainability Studies with a minor in Central Eurasian Studies with a focus in Tibetan and East Asian Studies with a specialization in Chinese.
Academic Achievements
As a Herman B Wells and Founders Scholar, Coleton’s academic achievements are quite impressive. His academic interests in East Asian languages led him to do fieldwork in Nepal and India. This fieldwork included research projects on the linguistic attitudes and ideologies in Himalayan languages as well as his documenting linguistic and sociolinguistic elements of Walungge, a nearly unresearched endangered Tibetic language of Nepal. He also spent summers abroad in Belize where he learned about indigenous land rights claims in Maya context and in Kyrgyzstan where he investigated an archaeological site in the Naryn Province. Here at IU, Coleton also conducted research alongside IU faculty, Dr. David Stringer entitled “Applying Systems Thinking to Biocultural Diversity Conservation.”
Campus and Community Involvement
Coleton is a member of Full-Frontal Comedy where he performs sketch comedy with his other Full Frontal cast members. He also served as secretary of the IU Tibetan Studies Student Association where he helped arrange the IU visit and lecture series of Tswanwang Gendun Tenpa, deputy director and chief curator of the Chengdu Dargye Himalayan Art and Culture Museum. Coleton also worked with The Language Conservancy here in Bloomington, as a Linguistics Publications Assistant, he contributed to the development of Owoksápe, the first Lakota online learning portal.
Acknowledgements
While he was performing his research, he is proud of the connections he made and thankful to his friends, family and educators who have been a constant source of support. When asked who he would like to thank for their support during his journey at IU, he said, “I’d like to
thank my thesis committee members for their insightful guidance over my undergraduate career: Prof. Kathryn Graber, Prof. David Stringer, and Prof. Stacey Van Vleet. I’d also like to thank the Wells Scholar Program for its incredible support and mentorship, especially Prof. Christoph Irmscher and Prof. Anne Pyburn. Finally, I’d like to thank my family and the friends I’ve made as a member of several wonderful communities especially Collins LLC, Full Frontal Comedy, the Tibetan Studies Student Association, and The Language Conservancy.”
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