Phuong Vu, a lecturer with the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, will discuss and analyze the form, styles, and symbolic and contemporary meanings of Vietnamese ao dai at the American university on October 23, under an exchange program between the two universities.

The Vietnamese professor will also provide historical perspective on this outfit as it relates to Vietnam’s royal family during the feudal period, and to female intellectuals and other professionals during the French colonial era.

Vu was a former student at New York University from 2011 to 2013. He received a Fulbright scholarship, a program administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs which grants scholarships for international students and scholars.

The exchange program between the HCM University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the University of Findlay began in 2006 with a grant from the Vermont-based private and philanthropic Freeman Foundation and ASIANetwork, a consortium of approximately 160 North American colleges.

After the grant project was completed, the two institutions signed an agreement to continue faculty exchange. A total of 14 faculty and staff have been exchanged between the two schools.