The East Asia Studies Seminar Room is tucked into a sun-filled space on the western half of Van Pelt Library-Center’s fifth floor.
Engaging & Enriching Penn’s Global Community
In honor of her 25th Reunion, Candice Willoughby, C’97, and her husband Robert are supporting the Penn Libraries East Asia Studies Seminar Room
Published: May 25, 2022
Home to over 3,400 reference books in languages including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, and 48 unbound academic journal titles, it’s an important destination for scholarly pursuit in East Asian studies at Penn. In need of a 21st-century update, the room will now be known as the Candice and Robert Willoughby East Asian Studies Seminar Room after a contemporary reimagining.
“We are delighted with this gift from Candice and Bob,” says Constantia Constantinou, the H. Carton Rogers III Vice Provost and Director of Libraries. “Their generosity provides great momentum as we build opportunities to connect people to our distinctive global collections, which inspire, inform, and contribute to building knowledge.”
The East Asia Studies Seminar Room provides a space for Penn students to engage in cultural exploration through texts and quiet conversation.
Plans for the room refresh include modern furniture and carpeting, a review of existing scholarly resources, newly curated offerings, and technology upgrades for contemporary learning. “As long-time, strong supporters of the Chinese Collection at Penn, the Willoughbys are ideal partners in our work,” says Brian Vivier, Chinese Studies Librarian and Coordinator for Area Studies. “They have a deep personal interest in the collections that we’re building, and in the students and faculty who use those collections every day.”
The Willoughbys’ gift is creating momentum for a broader strategy to establish the Center for Global Collections at the Penn Libraries. Once created, the Center for Global Collections will envelop existing world-renowned holdings that continue to make Penn an international destination for scholarship and research. Plans for the Center include modernizing several rooms that house global collections, including the Candice and Robert Willoughby East Asian Studies Seminar Room, which was last updated in 1961.
The next stage of development for the East Asian Studies Seminar Room will improve our support for a changing field and enhance our space as a hub for East Asia-centered activity on campus.” Brian Vivier, Chinese Studies Librarian and Coordinator for Area Studies
The naming of the Candice and Robert Willoughby East Asia Studies Seminar Room is just one of many ways that the Willoughbys have chosen to give back to Penn. “My time at Penn as a first generation American was incredibly enriching,” says Candice Willoughby. “Investing in the very room where I researched and wrote my honors thesis was an appropriate way to pay tribute to my experience there as well as to my later successes and enduring friendships. Providing current students with the resources to better comprehend how East Asia now plays on the world stage is more relevant than ever.”
The Willoughbys’ engagement with Penn has broadened considerably over the last several years. To commemorate their wedding in 2004, they established the Candice Wang Willoughby Endowed Scholarship which provides undergraduate financial aid to women of Asian descent. They have also supported several initiatives at the Penn Libraries, including the PKQ Willoughby Endowed Fund for Chinese Studies and the Wang Kang Fu Mei Travel Fund for the Chinese Studies Librarian in honor of Candice’s mother. Furthermore, the Willoughbys were instrumental in the redevelopment of the Moelis Family Grand Reading Room. Two tables in the renovated space honor her husband Robert and her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, where she served as President during her time at Penn.
Both Candice and Bob have held numerous volunteer leadership positions at the University. Candice is a member of the Libraries’ Board of Advisors and the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women. Previously, she was also a host for the Momentum 2021 Conference, chair of the Class of 1997 Gift Committee, a member of The Penn Fund Executive Board, and co-chair of the Libraries’ Orrery Society Council. Bob is a part-time horticulturist and Global Advisor to the Morris Arboretum.
To learn more about the Center for Global Collections or philanthropy and engagement at the Penn Libraries, email Sam Duplessis, Director of Advancement, or call 215-573-3609.
