Faculty & Staff Services

The Office of China Affairs is here as a resource for you. We can advise on various aspects of contemporary China (politics, economics, education system, etc.), assist with travel preparation, connect you with contacts in China, help you host Chinese visitors, and even provide translation and interpretation services.

Advisory Services

The Office of China Affairs can provide advisory services to the University community on their on-going or potential partnership or business dealings with Chinese higher education institutions, business, government, and other organizations.

Our director of China Affairs, Nathaniel Ahrens, can provide you, your faculty, staff, partners, and visitors with briefings on many aspects of contemporary China, from politics, to the economy, the education system, innovation policy, to simply travel and etiquette. He can also deliver an introductory presentation about UMD in Chinese to your visiting guests. He has a decade of on-the-ground experience in China and many years in well-known Washington D.C. think tanks. More about his background can be found here.  We can also organize customized programs where we bring in other expertise from UMD and the greater Washington D.C. area.

Translation and Interpretation Services

The Office of China Affairs can help public agencies, cultural organizations, and educators by providing English/Chinese and Chinese/English translations of brochures, exhibit guides, presentations, and subtitles. Within UMD we can provide translations of UMD business cards, brochures, announcements, faculty biographies, web pages, etc. We can also provide consecutive interpretation at meetings, seminars and conferences organized by UMD institutions on or off campus. The availability of such service for particular project depends on our staff availability and typically a fee will be charged. Please contact us first to determine if we are the best place for you to obtain such service in order to meet your project goals.

Facilitating Contacts in China

As an information clearinghouse and point of contact for all things China at UMD, the Office of China Affairs has a wealth of contacts in China. It is very possible that we have contacts at institutions that you may be interested in connecting with. At those places where we don’t have existing contacts, we likely know the most efficient way to establish such contact. We are happy to help facilitate such meetings and connections.

Travel Services

We can provide guidance on visas, help you plan itineraries, suggest hotels, arrange for translators/interpreters, help issue invitation letters for your Chinese visitors, etc. Please contact us if you have any questions.

We are also often traveling to China. It may be worth it for you to check in with us before you travel to see if we are overlapping. We are usually happy to provide support for you while you are in China.

If you have partners in China that would appreciate a visit from our Director of China Affairs, please let us know. This can be a good way to demonstrate your commitment to the partnership/relationship even when you cannot be present in person.