The TNNCTA Mission
The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), funded by the Freeman Foundation, is a multi-year initiative to encourage and facilitate teaching and learning about East Asia in elementary and secondary schools nationwide. Founded in 1998 as a collaboration between Columbia University and several other institutions nationwide, NCTA has become a premier provider of professional development on East Asian history, geography, art, literature, and more.
Since 2008, the Tennessee NCTA (TNNCTA) has been proud to be part of this national network, offering on-site seminars, teacher resources, and travel funding to help Tennessee educators bring East Asia into their classrooms. The TNNCTA is currently hosted by Rhodes College in Memphis. Through TNNCTA workshops, teachers engage with East Asia specialists, explore sample curricula and lesson plans, collaborate on effective teaching strategies, and receive extensive materials for classroom use. Area teachers are also able to network with each other to share valuable best practices and other teaching tips.
Many TNNCTA alumni have also participated in study tours to China, Japan, and Korea or received travel stipends to attend East Asia workshops across the country. For updates on upcoming seminars and grant opportunities, please visit our News and Events page [link to that page here].
While we are actively working to build an online repository, TNNCTA remains committed to providing professional development seminars and high-quality teaching resources, including primary source collections, digital humanities projects, sample lesson plans, and curriculum materials spanning diverse disciplines and grade levels. Stay tuned as we continue to expand our collection of online resources to better support Tennessee educators.
About Us
The TNNCTA is housed at Rhodes College through both the International Studies Department and the Asian Studies program under the leadership of Dr. Han Li and Dr. Steve Ceccoli. Professor Han serves as Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. She specializes in the material cultural history of late imperial China and contemporary Chinese media. Professor Ceccoli is a professor of International Studies and member of the College’s program in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He teaches courses in comparative politics, international relations, political economy and has led numerous students groups to China on summer study programs.
TNNCTA was founded in 2008 by the late Dr. Lucien Ellington, UC Foundation Professor of Education at the University of Chattanooga. It was housed within UTC’s Asia Program until Dr. Ellington’s passing in 2024. You can learn more about Dr. Ellington and his work below.
Dr. Lucien Ellington
Lucien Ellington was the founding editor of Education About Asia, as well as editor of Key Issues in Asian Studies. He was a UC Foundation Professor of Education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he taught social and historical foundations of education as well as history and social science methods courses. Dr. Ellington directed the Asia Program at UTC and founded the Tennessee chapter of NCTA. Under his leadership and with support from a $99,889 grant from The Freeman Foundation, TNNCTA was able to equip Tennessee educators with innovative teaching strategies and classroom resources to bring a deeper understanding of Asia into their classrooms.
Dr. Ellington’s degrees included an MA in History from Mississippi State University, an EdD in Secondary Education (Social Sciences) from the University of Mississippi, and an MA in Economic Education from the University of Minnesota. A former high school teacher and director of a secondary school humanities program, he authored four books on Japan, and over 80 articles and essays on topics such as northeast Asia, history and social science education, economic history, liberal education, and educational reform. Dr. Ellington also was editor of ABC-CLIO’s Asia: A Global Handbook Series. He was a senior fellow for the Foreign Policy Research Institute (Education Division). Dr. Ellington was leader or co-leader for 12 educator study tours in East Asia.
We are deeply grateful for Dr. Ellington’s hard work and dedication to fostering a deeper understanding of East Asia in classrooms. His inspiring legacy continues to impact educators and students, and we are proud to carry forward and build upon his work.
Contact
The TNNCTA is open to any ideas from local, regional, or national groups interested in the NCTA's mission of promoting the understanding and teaching of Asia. We are particularly keen to hear from those who have content to provide to teachers and students in Tennessee about Asia, and from those who currently teach in Tennessee and have ideas about ways the TNNCTA might support the teaching of Asia.
Han Li, Chair of Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and Chinese Language Section Head
(901) 843-3733)
Steve Ceccoli, Professor of International Studies
(901) 843-3823