Richard VanNess Simmons [back to home page]
Associate Professor of Chinese at Rutgers University

        Also known as:

• R. VanNess Simmons
  
• Richard V. Simmons
  
• 史皓元 (sometimes written "史皓圆")
• 史瑞明 (prior to 1993)

Education

• Ph.D. in Chinese Linguistics and Dialectology, August 1992, University of Washington, Seattle. Dissertation: "The Hangzhou Dialect." Dissertation advisor: Professor Jerry Norman. The dissertation, based upon research done in China and Japan 1988-89, is a descriptive and comparative study of a Chinese dialect of significant historical interest.
• M.A. in Chinese Literature, June 1986, University of Washington, Seattle. Masters thesis: "The Soushen houji Attributed to Tao Yuanming (365-427)." Thesis advisor: Professor David Knechtges. The thesis is a study and translation of a Chinese Six Dynasties (222-589) collection of classical tales of the supernatural.
• B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature, March 1981, University of Washington, Seattle. Graduated Magna Cum Laude.

--Associate Professor of Chinese at Rutgers University:

• First-year Chinese, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02, Spring 2003, 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008
  
• Characteristics of the Chinese Language, Fall 2000, Fall 2001, Fall 2003, Fall 2004, Fall 2006, Fall 2007
  
• Advanced Chinese Grammar, Fall 1999, Spring 2001, Fall 2005
  
• The Chinese Novel, Spring 2000, Spring 2002
• Chinese Dialects:  Description and History, Spring 2002, Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007
  
• Rutgers Summer Chinese Program in Nanjing, China, Summer 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
  

• First-year Chinese, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99
• Chinese Drama and Performing Arts, Spring 1998, 1999
• Advanced Chinese Grammar, Fall 1997
• Characteristics of the Chinese Language, November-December 1994, Fall 1995, 1996, 1998
• Chinese Literature in Translation I: Prose and Poetry, September-December 1994
• Chinese Literature in Translation II: Popular Fiction and Drama, January-May 1994, 1995, 1996
• Honors Thesis Supervised:
• 1997-98 Academic year. Supervised Senior Honors Project of Maya N. Vaughan-Smith. Topic of thesis: "Censorship of Female Sexuality: Comparison of English and Chinese Literature."
• 2000-01 Academic year.  Supervised Senior Honors Project of Hana Kang.  Topic of thesis: "Comparison of initial and final endings in Sino-Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese." Published in The Rutgers Scholar, Volume 3, 2001.
• Independent Study Supervised:
• Spring 1994. Student: Jessica Lee. Topic: "Buddhist Cave Temple Art" (in Six Dynasties through Tang China).
• Spring 1995. Student: David Yao-Tsung Tsai. Topic: "Contemporary Taiwanese Realism in Literature."
• Fall 1996. Student: Maya N. Vaughan-Smith. Topic: "The Sexual Revolution of Women in Chinese Literature."
• Fall 1999. Student: Peter Yuen.  Topic: "The Rape of Nanking."
• Spring 2000.  Student:  Debbie Botha.  Topic:  "Understanding the Economic Developments in China after the Cultural Revolution."
• Fall 2000. Student: Cesaer Brazza.  Topic: "The Cantonese Dialect."
• Fall 2000. Student: Susan Hsueh.  Topic:  "Regional Factionalism in the Chinese Economy."
• Spring 2004. Student: Brendon Schumacker.  Topic: "The Evolution of Chinese Characters."
• Spring 2007. Student Daniel Upbin.   Topic: "Literacy and the Chinese Writing System in the PRC."
  

• Third-year Chinese, September 1992-May 1993
• Traditional Chinese Fiction in Translation, September-December 1992
• The Chinese Storytelling Tradition, January 1993
• Chinese Classical Literature in Translation, January-May 1993

• Second-year Classical Chinese, September 1991-March 1992
• Third-year Chinese, April-June 1992
• First-year Intensive Chinese, June-August 1992

• Third-year Chinese, April-June 1987
• Second-year Intensive Chinese, June-August 1987

• First-year Chinese, September 1983-June 1984
• Second-year Intensive Chinese, June-August 1985
• Third-year Intensive Chinese, June-August 1986

--Monographs:

• Chinese Dialect Classification -- Theory and Practice 《汉语方言分区的理论与实践》(a revison and translation of Chinese Dialect Classification -- A Comparative Approach to Harngjou, Old Jintarn, and Common Northern Wu).  Translated by Gu Qian 顾黔.  Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 中华书局, forthcoming Fall 2007.
  
• Chinese Dialect Geography: Distinguishing Mandarin and Wu in Their Boundary Region 江淮官话与吴语边界的方言地理学研究. With Gu Qian 顾黔 and Shi Rujie 石汝杰. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press 上海教育出版社, 2006.
  
• Handbook for Lexicon Based Dialect Fieldwork 汉语方言词汇调查手册.  With Gu Qian 顾黔 and Shi Rujie 石汝杰.  Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 中华书局, 2006.  [On the copyright page of the first printing of this volume, Simmons' Chinese name is erroneously entered as "史皓圆".]
• Chinese Dialect Classification -- A Comparative Approach to Harngjou, Old Jintarn, and Common Northern Wu. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory (E. F. K. Koerner, series editor), Volume 188. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 1999.
• Reviews of this book include:
• William G. Boltz. 2000. "Notes on Richard VanNess Simmons: Chinese Dialect Classification." In Oriens Extremus 42.1, 183-190.
• Akitani Hiroyuki 秋谷裕幸. 2000. In Tôyô gakuhô 東陽學報 (Journal of the Research Department of the Tôyô Bunko 東陽文庫) 82.9, 1-8.
• Zev J. Handel. 2001. In Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.4, 658-660.
• Key words for this volume in pīnyīn:  Hángzhōu fāngyán / Hangzhou fangyan; Jīntán fāngyán / Jintan fangyan
  
• Issues in Chinese Dialect Description and Classification. Ed. by R. VanNess Simmons. Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series, Number 15, 1999.
• Review:
• Laurent Sagart. 2002. In Journal of Chinese Linguistics 30.1, 179-193
  

• "Hangzhou Stories and Songs." Forthcoming in Reader on Folk and Popular Literature in China. Edited by Victor Mair and Mark Bender.
• "Perspectives on the history of Guānhuà -- Thoughts upon reading W. South Coblin's studies of nányīn and běiyīn."  In Modern Chinese phonology: from Guānhuà to Mandarin. By W. South Coblin.  Collection des Cahiers de linguistique - Asie Oriental, 11.  École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale.  Paris, 2007, pp. 79-92.
  
• "Common Dialect Phonology in Practice  -- Y. R. Chao's Field Methodology." In The Chinese Rime-Tables: Linguistic Philosophy and Historical-Comparative Phonology. Ed. by David Prager Branner. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006, pp. 189-207.
• "How Rime Book Based Analyses Can Lead Us Astray." In The Chinese Rime-Tables: Linguistic Philosophy and Historical-Comparative Phonology. Ed. by David Prager Branner. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006, pp. 171-181.
  
• "Some Thoughts on Tradition and Chinese Characters."  In The Journal of  Chinese Langauge Teaching and Research, Vol. 3, Spring 2005, pp. 97-98.
• “Institute of Linguistics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.” In the Routledge Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture.  Edited by Edward Davis.  London and New York: Routledge, 2004.
  
• "A Syllabary for 'Jiangsu shin tzyhmuu.'" Jointly authored with Shi Rujie. In "Wuyeu dwuben" onsei dēta no sakusei to kōkai [Compilation and publication of data for the Wu dialect reader]. Fukuoka University Research Reports for 2004, No. 14510491, 1-10.
  
• A Late Ching Wu Dialect Writing System — Ju Wenshyong’s “Jiangsu shin tzyhmuu.”  Jointly authored with Shi Rujie.  In FULERC [Fukuoka University Language and Education Research Center]: Annual Review of Language Learning and Teaching, 2003.12, 25-32.
• “The Distribution of Northern and Southern Lexicon in Danyang and Dantwu – A Preliminary Investigation.” In Junggwo yeuwen yanjiu [Studies in Chinese Linguistics], a refereed journal published in Hong Kong, Serial No. 16 (2003, No. 2 [September]), 1-14.
• “The Relationship of Wu and Mandarin Dialects in History: Assessing Change and Influence across Space and Time.” In Wuyeu yanjiu [Studies in Wu Dialects], Vol 2, edited by Shanghai shyh yeuwen shyuehuey and Hong Kong yeuwen shyuehuey, 2003, 31-43.
• Review of Difficult Characters: Interdisciplinary Studies of Chinese and Japanese Writing, ed. by Mary S. Erbaugh.  In The Modern Language Journal. 87.3 (Autumn 2003): 478-79; and 89.1 (Spring 2005): 147-48.
  
• Review of The Physical Foundation of the Patterning of Physical Action Verbs: A Study of Chinese Verbs, by Gao Hong. Forthcoming in The Modern Language Journal. 87.3 (Autumn 2003): 476-77.
• Review of The Morphology of Chinese: A Linguistic and Cognitive Approach, by Jerome L. Packard.  In The Modern Language Journal. 86.1 (Spring 2002): 139-140.
• Review of Problems in Comparative Dialectology:  The Classification of Miin and Hakka, by David Prager Branner.  In Journal of the American Oriental Society.  121.2 (Spring 2001): 322-324.
• "A Gauchwen Village Dialect: Chyanshiyau tsuen [The Village Chyanshiyau]." In Short Chinese Dialect Reports 1, edited by David Prager Branner. The Yuen Ren Society Treasury of Chinese Dialect Data series, vol. III, 2002, 155-256.
• "On Chinese Dialect Classification -- A Case Study Examining the Relationship of the Harngjou and Jennjiang Dialects" In Issues in Chinese Dialect Description and Classification. Ed. by R. VanNess Simmons. Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series, Number 15, 1999, pp. 204-234.
• "Nantong and Harngjou Compared to Wu." Fangyan [Dialect] 1998: 89-103.
• Review of The Oral Tradition of Yangzhou Storytelling, by Vibeke Børdahl. Journal of Asian Studies. 56.3 (August 1997): 757-58.
• "A Second Look at the Tôwa sanyô: Clues to the Nature of the Guanhuah Studied by Japanese in the Early Eighteenth Century." Journal of the American Oriental Society 117.3 (Fall 1997): 419-26.
• "An Early Missionary Syllabary for the Hangzhou Dialect." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 59.3 (1996): 516-524.
• "Distinguishing Characteristics of the Hangzhou Dialect." Wuyu yanjiu [Studies of the Wu Dialects]. Ed. by Eric Zee. New Asia Academic Bulletin, Vol. XI. Hong Kong: New Asia College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. Pp. 383-98.
• "A Dialect of the Harngjou Suburbs -- a Vocabulary for Jiangjiatarng." The Yuen Ren Society Treasury of Chinese Dialect Data. 2 (March 1996): 113-147.
• "The Grey Area Between Mandarin and Wu Dialects: A Report on the Preliminary Mandarin-Wu Classification." In Volume III of the Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics: Pan-Asiatic Linguistics, in Bangkok, Thailand, January 8-10, 1996, 1051-1076.
• "The Oral Transmission of a Late Nineteenth Century Harngjou Lyric." CHINOPERL Papers 18 (1995): 45-59.
• "A Note on the Phonology of the Tôwa sanyô." Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.1 (Spring 1995): 26-32.
• "A Recording of the Story and Song of a Venerable Harngjou Raconteur." The Yuen Ren Society Treasury of Chinese Dialect Data 1 (March 1995): 79-106.
• "Hangzhou Storytellers and Their Art." Kai Pian: Chûgokugogaku kenkyû [Studies in Chinese Language] 9 (1992): 1-25.
• "Northern and Southern Forms in Hangzhou Grammar." Chinese Languages and Linguistics. Vol I: Chinese Dialects. Ed. by Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. Symposium Series of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. No. 2. Taipei: Academia Sinica, 1992. Pp. 539-561.
• "Hangzhou Oral Performances." Kai Pian: Chûgokugogaku kenkyû 8(1991): 34-37.
• "A Note on the Articulation of the -er Suffix in the Hangzhou Dialect." Fangyan 1989: 180-81.
• Modern Chinese Prose. Edited by Marvin M.K. Li. Taipei: Pyramid Press, 1992. Simmons provided all the translations for this collection of ten short stories.
• Chinese-English Translation -- Intermediate. With Marvin M.K. Li. Taipei: Pyramid Press, 1990. This 72 page workbook is used in high schools in Taiwan.
• Writing--Intermediate. With Marvin M.K. Li and James Anderson. Taipei: Pyramid Press, 1990. This 90 page workbook is used in high schools in Taiwan.
• Jin Ping Mei cihui suoyin (An Annotated Glossary to Jin Ping Mei). With Zhang Huiying of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Linguistics, Beijing. Simmons provided English annotations for each entry in this forthcoming book, an exhaustive treatment of the language of Jin Ping Mei [The Plum in the Golden Vase], a 17th century Chinese novel.

• Syllabary of Common Dialectal Chinese 汉语方言通音字表.  This will be a monograph length syllabary and analysis of the phonological system developed by Jerry Norman, that provides an outline of an earlier historical stage of the Chinese dialects and detailed presentation of their overlapping influences and relationships.
• The Jintan Dialect.  Commissioned for inclusion in the Jiangsu Dialect Series 江苏方言研究丛书.
• Wu Dialect Grammar.  With Shi Rujie.  Commissioned by Lincom-Europa.

• "Jerry Norman's Common Dialectal Chinese -- A Tool for Exploring Dialect Relationships 罗杰瑞的汉语方言共同音系 － '汉语方言通音'研究." Given at the 3rd International Conference on Jin Dialects 第三届晋方言国际学术研讨会, Taiyuan, Shanxi 山西太原, China, August 11-12, 2007.
  
• "Measuring Lexical Competition in the Four Contending Dialect Types of Jiītán County." Read at the 5th International Urban Language Seminar on the topic of Industrialization, Language Contact, and Identity Formation in China and Europe, Leiden University, the Netherlands, 9-11 July, 2007.
  
• "Competition among Dialects and Prestige Languages 方言與優勢語言的競爭."  Presented by invitation at the Conference & Workshop on Sociolinguistics and Functional Linguistics jointly held by Yuan Ze University and Chung-hsing University in Taiwan, in Chung-li and Tai-chung (「社會語言學與功能語言學」研討會元智大學中國語文學系、新竹教育大學語文學系  舉辦), November 5-7, 2006.
  
• "Using Lexical Surveys to Outline a Dialect's Phonology 怎麼樣通過詞彙調查方言音系."  Presented by invitation at the Conference & Workshop on Sociolinguistics and Functional Linguistics jointly held by Yuan Ze University and Chung-hsing University in Taiwan, in Chung-li and Tai-chung (「社會語言學與功能語言學」研討會元智大學中國語文學系、新竹教育大學語文學系  舉辦), November 5-7, 2006.
  
• "Problems and Discoveries in Fleshing Out Jerry Norman's Common Dialectal Chinese."  Presented at the 216th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Seattle, March 17-20, 2006.
  
• "Dialect Vocabulary in Mandarin."  Presented at the 2005 meeting of the WBAOS (American Oriental Society, Western Branch) at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, November 4-6, 2005.
  
• "Shared Dialect Vocabulary at the Border of Mandarin and Wu in Jiangsu." Presented at the 13th National (China) Conference on Dialectology in conjunction with the International Conference on Chinese Dialect Research at Suzhou University, China, September 23-25, 2005.
  
• "Choosing Language And Identity: Competition Between Mandarin & Wú in Jīntán County and the Shift of the Dominant Patois in the County Seat."  Given at the 3rd Urban Language Survey Seminar (ULS-2005) at Nanjing University, China, June 25-26, 2005.
  
• "Ancient Elements in the Recent Evolution of the Chinese Script." Presented to the Plenary Session (Topic: "Scripts and Writing") of the 215th Meeting of the American Oriental Society in Philadelphia, March 18-21, 2005.
• "The Delights of Dialect Fieldwork: Discoveries Made at a Taixing Memorial to a Hero of the Korean War." Presented at the 215th Meeting of the American Oriental Society in Philadelphia, March 18-21, 2005.
  
• "Mandarin Dialect Islands in Jintarn County, Jiangsu, China." Given at the 37th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, University of Lund, Sweden, October 1-3, 2004.
  
• "The Geographic Range of the Nantong-Tongjou Vowel Shift." Presented at the12th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics, Nankai University, Tianjin, China, June 17-21, 2004.
  
• "Phonological and Lexical Isoglosses in Danyang." Given as invited speaker to the Second Annual Symposium on the Study of Urban Languages at the First Anniversary Celebration of the Sociolinguistics Laboratory of Nanjing University, Nanjing University, June 15, 2004.
  
• "Seeking Tone  Isoglosses in Danyang and Neighboring Counties in Jiangsu, China." Presented  at the 214th Annual  Meeting of the American Oriental Society, San Diego,  California, March 12-15, 2004.
  
• "Do Mandarin and Wu Isoglosses Cross the Yangtze?"  Presented at the 2003 meeting of the American Oriental Society, Western Branch, University of California, Berkeley, October 10-12, 2003.
• "Mapping Dialect Mixture in Tongjou and Lihshoei Counties - How Dialect Geography Reveals Language History." Presented at the meeting of the Yuen Ren Society held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society in Nashville, Tennessee, April 4-7, 2003.
• "Common Southern Jiang-Hwai Mandarin." Given at the 35th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics held at Arizona State University, November 7-10, 2002.
• "Northern and Southern Lexicon in Danyang and Dantu." Presented at the First International Conference on Chinese Sociolinguistics, organized by Beijing Languages and Cultures University, Beijing, China, September 6-9, 2002.
• "Distinguishing Aerial and Classificatory Features in Chinese Dialect Field Research." Given at the 11th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics, held at Aichi Prefectural University, Nagoya, Japan,August 20-22, 2002.
• "An Unusual Mandarin Dialect -- The Village of Shoetair in Dantwu County, Jiangsu Province."  Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, hosted by the University of California, Los Angeles, October 12-14, 2001.
• "Questions of History and Diversity in the Classification of Wu and Mandarin Dialects." Given at the Second International Conference on Wu Dialects hosted by Suzhou University, Suzhou, China, March 23-26, 2001.
• "A How Local is Local -- Thoughts on the Hidden Influence of the Prestige Vernacular in Minor Locales." Presented at the annual meeting of the American Oriental Society, Western Branch, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, November 16-19, 2000.
• "What Kind of 'History of Chinese' Are We Trying to Recover?" Presented at the Symposium on the History of Spoken Chinese. Held in conjunction with the 210th meeting of the American Oriental Society in Portland, Oregon, March 12-15, 2000.
• "Report on the Project to Investigate the Boundary between Wu and Jiang-Hwai Dialects."  Presented at the 32nd International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, October 28-31, 1999.
• "A Late Ching Wu Dialect Writing System," Conference on the Past, Present, and Future of Chinese Characters at the University of Pennsylvania, April 30-May 2, 1999, with Shi Rujie of Suzhou University.
• "A Comparative Model for the Classification of Wu Dialects," Annual Conference of the Yuen Ren Society for the Promotion of Chinese Dialect Fieldwork, Rutgers University, March 6, 1999.
• "The Biggest Picture in the Shortest Time -- Y. R. Chao's Approach to Fieldwork," North American Association for the History of the Language Sciences in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Los Angeles, January 8-9, 1999.
• "Doing Fieldwork with an Eye on the Common Dialect Phonology -- Y. R. Chao's Methodology as Revealed in His Harngjou Field Notes." Presented at the International Symposium on Linguistic Change and the Chinese Dialects Dedicated to the Memory of the Late Professor Li Fang-kuei at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, August 17-19, 1998.
• "How Rime Book Based Analyses Can Lead Us Astray." Presented at the symposium on Chinese historical phonology entitled "New Views of the Philosophy Underlying the Chinese Rime Tables," held at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 2, 1998.
• "Development of Multimedia Chinese Courseware." Discussed at the conference on Chinese Language Instruction: Materials and Pedagogy, at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, April 25, 1998.
• "Jintarn, a Town of Two Dialects." Read at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Washington D.C., March 26-29, 1998.
• "Old Jintarn-Danyang Affiliation: Their Common System and Correlation with Common Northern Wu." Presented at the 4th Annual Meeting of the Yuen Ren Society for the Promotion of Chinese Dialect Fieldwork, Seattle, Washington, February 7, 1998.
• "Comparing the Nantong and Harngjou Dialects with Wu." Presented at the First International Conference on Mandarin Dialects, jointly sponsored by Shandong University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Qingdao, China, July 22-24, 1997.
• "The Mixed Nature of Gauchwen Affiliation." Delivered at the University of Pennsylvania Conference on the Local Languages and Local Cultures of China, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 27, 1997.
• "A Gauchwen Village Dialect: Chyanshiyau tsuen." Discussed at the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Yuen Ren Society for the Promotion of Chinese Dialect Fieldwork, Seattle, Washington, March 24, 1997.
• "A Comparative Sample of the Dialects of Southern Jiangsu and Northern Jehjiang." Presented at the Institute of Linguistics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, August 8, 1996.
• "On Chinese Dialect Classification." Delivered at the 206th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 17-20, 1996.
• "A Dialect of the Harngjou Suburbs -- a Vocabulary for Jiangjiatarng." Discussed at the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Yuen Ren Society for the Promotion of Chinese Dialect Fieldwork, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1996.
• "The Grey Area Between Mandarin and Wu Dialects: A Report on the Preliminary Mandarin-Wu Classification." Read at the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics: Pan-Asiatic Linguistics, in Bangkok, Thailand, January 8-10, 1996.
• "The Dialect of Longjiing (Uengjiashan) and the Grey Area Between Mandarin and Wu Dialects." Presented at the 28th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics in Charlottesville, Virginia, October 6-10, 1995.
• "A Recording of the Story and Song of a Venerable Harngjou Raconteur." Discussed at the Meeting of the Yuen Ren Society for the Promotion of Chinese Dialect Fieldwork., Salt Lake City, Utah, March 27, 1995; and at the annual meeting of the Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature in Washington, D.C., April 6, 1995.
• "A Review of the Vocabulary and Usage of the Tôwa sanyô: The Nature of the Guanhuah Studied by Japanese in the Early Eighteenth Century." Delivered at the 205th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 26-29, 1995.
• "Field Criteria for Wu and Mandarin Taxonomy: Test Cases in Jehjiang." Presented at the 27th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics in Paris, France, October 12-16, 1994.
• "A Note on the Oral Transmission of a Late Nineteenth Century Harngjou Lyric." Discussed at the annual meeting of the Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 24, 1994.
• "The Phonology of the Tôwa sanyô in Comparative Perspective." Given at the 203rd meeting of the American Oriental Society in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, April 18-21, 1993.
• "The Classification of the Hangzhou Dialect." Discussed at a colloquium sponsored by the Yuen Ren Society at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, May 6, 1992.
• "An Early Missionary Syllabary for the Hangzhou Dialect." Presented at the 1991 annual meeting of the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society held at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, October 25-27, 1991.
• "Hangzhou Storytellers: Reflections of the Past and Present in a Continuing Tradition." Delivered at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, New Orleans, April 11-14, 1991.
• "Northern and Southern Forms in Hangzhou Grammar." Presented at the First International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics held at the Academia Sinica Institute of History and Philology, Taipei, Taiwan, July 20-22, 1990.
• "A Preliminary Outline of Hangzhou Phonology." Discussed at a conference on Chinese dialects hosted by Ray Iwata at Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan, August 2-3, 1989.
• "Distinguishing Features of the Hangzhou Dialect." Presented at the International Conference on Wu Dialects held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, December 12-14, 1988.
• "Reflections of the Colloquial Language in the Writing of Han Yu (768-824)." Given at a colloquium on late traditional Chinese at the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China, October 11, 1988.

• Panel on "Chinese Dialects and Their History," held at the International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics at Arizona State University, Nov. 7-10, 2002.
• Symposium on the History of Spoken Chinese. Held in conjunction with the 210th meeting of the American Oriental Society in Portland, Oregon, March 12-15, 2000.  Jointly organized with David P. Branner.
• 5th Annual Meeting of the Yuen Ren Society for the Promotion of Chinese Dialect Fieldwork.March 6, 1999 at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  Jointly organized with David P. Branner.
• Panel on "Local Language in Local Chinese Culture," held at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Washington D.C., March 26-29, 1998, ten participants.  Jointly organized with David P. Branner.
• Panel on Chinese Dialect Description, Comparison, and Classification, held at the 206th annual meeting of the American Oriental Society in Philadelphia, March 17-20, 1996, ten participants.
• Panel on the History of Mandarin, held at the 205th annual meeting of the American Oriental Society in Salt Lake City, March 26-29, 1995, four participants.

--Professional:

• Awarded a Travel Grant from Yuan Ze University in Taiwan to attend the Conference & Workshop on Sociolinguistics and Functional Linguistics jointly held by Yuan Ze University and Chung-hsing University in Taiwan, in Chung-li and Tai-chung. November 5-7, 2006.
  
• Awarded a short-term research fellowship for two weeks of research in Taiwan, December 2005.  This was supported by a grant from the Cultural Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office under the 2005 Taiwan Studies Faculty Research Award program for Americans, sponsored by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan.
  
• Appointed Researcher in Chinese Linguistics by Special Appointment at the newly established Y.R. Chao Center in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, beginning Fall 2005.
  
• Received the Jiangsu Friendship Award in recognition of research cooperation with Nanjing University and scholarly contributions to the Province of Jiangsu.  Conferred in Spetember 2005 by the provincial government in acknowledgment of cooperative work with colleagues at Nanjing University in researching and mapping the dialects of the province, for contributions to the training and guidance of Nanjing University graduate students in linguistic research and fieldwork, and for publications and academic presentations on the subject of the provincial dialects.
  
• Participant in the Chinese Dialect Atlas project recently initiated by Professor Cao Zhiyun of Beijing Languages and Cultures University. This project intends to produce lexical and phonological dialect maps for all of China. I assisted in developing the survey instruments for this project and am one of the fieldworkers for the project’s surveys.  I undertook my fieldwork for this project in Jiangsu for 8 weeks during the summer of 2004 and in Taiwan during 3 two-week trips in 2005 & 2006.
  
• 1999 Award for Outstanding Results in an Invitation of Foreign Experts, conferred by the Nanjing University Committee for Appraisal of International Cooperative Programs.
• The Henry Luce Foundation U.S. China Cooperative Research Program three-year grant to support a project entitled Investigation of the Boundary between Wu and Jiang-Huai Dialects, during the years 1999-2001. Simmons is the principal investigator (Director) for this cooperative project, and will be working with Dr. Gu Qian of Nanjing University, who will be the Co-Director in China, Dr. Zhiqiang Yu of Baruch College (CUNY), and Professor Shi Rujie of Suzhou University. The project will investigate, analyze, and classify Mandarin and Wu dialects in the villages and countryside of the Yangtze valley region of China. Two year extension granted for 2002-2003 and renewed for 2004-2005.
• Chiang Ching-kuo Scholarly Publications Grant for the project Monograph: Issues in Chinese Dialect Description and Classification, to publish a collection of papers edited by Simmons.
• The Rutgers Research Council publication subvention for the project Monograph: Issues in Chinese Dialect Description and Classification, to publish a collection of papers edited by Simmons.
• Undergraduate Curriculum Seed Grant for a project entitled "Integrating Computerized Audio-Visual Language Resources into the East Asian Language Distance Learning Curriculum (Chinese)." With Ching-I Tu. Awarded by the Vice President for Undergraduate Education in New Brunswick for January-June 1997.
• Lilly Endowment Inc. Teaching Fellowship for the academic year 1996-97. Awarded by the Teaching Excellence Center of Rutgers University. Project title: "A Multimedia Approach to Teaching Elementary Chinese."
• Committee on Scholarly Communication with China six-month research fellowship under the 1995-96 National Program for Advanced Study and Research in China for research done in affiliation with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. The research undertaken with this fellowship focuses on Mandarin and Wu dialects in the Yangtze valley region of China, and was done in the Summers of 1995 and 1996.
• American Council of Learned Societies travel grant to attend the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics: Pan-Asiatic Linguistics, in Bangkok, Thailand, January 8-10, 1996 (funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences).
• Middlebury College Faculty Professional Development Grant, Spring 1993.

• Full tuition award, Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama, September 1990-June 1991.
• Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program twelve month fellowship for research in China with the Beijing Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, academic year 1988-89, and in Japan at Waseda University, Summer 1989.
• CSC/PRC Senior advanced research fellowship awarded by the National Program for Advanced Study and Research in China under the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China of the National Academy of Sciences, academic year 1988-89.
• Hsiao Kung-chüan Fellowship, China Program, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, academic year 1987-88.
• Tatsumi Award, Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington, April 1986.
• National Resource Fellowship (FLAS), University of Washington, Summer 1984 and academic years 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, and 1987-88 (final year declined).
• Chester Fritz Tuition Award, University of Washington, September 1983-June 1984 (declined).
• Republic of China Ministry of Education Grant for study at National Taiwan University, September 1982-June 1983.
• Full tuition award, Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei, September 1981-August 1982.

• Full scholarship for Intensive Chinese in Beijing (CIEE Program) awarded by the School of International Studies, University of Washington, Summer 1980.
• Chester Fritz Tuition Award, University of Washington, Winter and Spring 1980 and academic year 1980-81.
• Honors Committee Certificate for High Scholarship, University of Washington, 1979-80.
• Honor Roll of Phi Kappa Phi, 1979.
• University of New Mexico College Honor Roll, 1978-79.

--Membership on Editorial Board of Scholarly Journal:

• Review Referee, The Modern Langauge Journal, since September 2000.
• Review Referee, Yuen Ren Society Treasury of Chinese Dialect Data, since January 1995.

• Rutgers College Fellow, since Fall 1993.
• Livingston College Fellow, since Fall 1993.

• Fellow at Large, Livingston College Executive Council of Fellows, September 2000-present
• University Senate Representative for the Livingston College Executive Council of Fellows, September 2001-present.
• Rutgers Faculty of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee, 2000-01, 2001-02
• Rutgers Faculty of Arts and Sciences Promotion and Reappointment Committee, 1999-2000
• Regular member, Rutgers Language Institute Steering Committee, March 1997-present.
• Regular member, Rutgers College Cultural Affairs and Programs (CAP) Committee, January 1994-present.
• Co-chair, Rutgers East Asian Library Faculty Advisory Committee, September 1993-prsent.
• Member, Rutgers East Asian Languages and Cultures Chinese, Japanese and Korean Search Committees, Spring 2000.
• Member, Rutgers East Asian Languages and Cultures Chinese Literature Search Committee, Spring 1998.
• Member, Rutgers East Asian Languages and Cultures Korean Language Search Committee, Spring 1996.

• Initiated and direct the Rutgers Summer Chinese Language Program at Nanjing University, including the implementation of two new courses for the program: Intermediate Chinese in China and Advanced Chinese in China.
• Assistant to the Chair in East Asian Languages and Cultures, Fall 1999-present.  Responsibilities include: the undergraduate programs in Chinese and East Asian Studies, departmental computerization and data management, supervision and maintenance of the departmental website, publicity, liaison with individual colleges, curriculum and program planning, departmental projects on distance learning, multimedia instruction, grant proposal preparation.
• Departmental Digiclass coordinator as of Fall 2000-present.
• Assistant Director of the East Asian Languages and Cultures project on "Development of Multimedia courseware for Classroom and Distance Learning Curriculum" supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, July 1997-May 2000.
• Head instructor for the pilot Distance Learning course in Elementary Chinese (Chinese 101-102) taught jointly in the Interactive Television Rooms of Rutgers' New Brunswick and Newark campuses, 1997-98 and Fall 1998.
• East Asian Languages-RUCS/FAS Departmental Computer Liaison, January 1995-present.
• Reading committee, Griffis Prize & Internship in Asian Studies, Spring 1994, Fall 1995.
• East Asian Languages representative to Rutgers College Majors Fair, Fall 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000

• Advisor, Tzu Ching Student Association. January 2000-present.
• Advisor, Rutgers Cantonese Student Association. 1995-present.
• Advisor, All Children's Charity Association (formerly Asian Children's Charity Association). 1995-2002.
• Advisor, Asian Student Volleyball Alliance. 1993-2001.
• Assisted in the demonstration of the Rutgers Interactive Television Classrooms in Newark and New Brunswick for a delegation from the Danish Ministry of Education, April 1998.
• Nominated: Successful candidate, Fatema Razvi, for 1995-96 scholarship from Women's League of Rutgers University.
• Speaker: "Doing Research in China: My Experiences this Summer Doing Dialect Fieldwork in Nanjing and Hangzhou," for the Asian Studies Program of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University, October 23, 1995.
• Speaker: "Learning Chinese," at East Asian House Douglass/Corwin Campus, September 19, 1994.

• Invited judge, Chinese Cultural Contest, sponsored by the New Jersey Chinese Cultural Studies Foundation, Saturday October 28, 2006 at Seton Hall University.
  
• Conference Chair, the 3rd Annual Conference of the Chinese Langauge Teachers Association of Greater New York, at Rutgers University, May 1, 2004.
  
• Vice Principal, Mid Jersey Tzu-Chi Academy, Edison, NJ, Summer 1998-2000.
• Interpreter for the mayor of Edison Township during visit of a Chinese delegation, June 5, 1998.
• Speaker: "Doing Business in Modern China," at the Prudential, Newark, NJ, October 10, 1994.
• Saturday morning conversation tutor, Central Jersey Chinese School, Fall 1995-Fall 1997.
• Impromptu interpreter for Healthnet Medical Group, December 9, 1993.

• Senator to the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, University of Washington, 1984-85.
• Student Representative, Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington, 1984-85.

• Guest Member, Early China Seminar of Columbia University since April 2002.
• International Association for Chinese Linguistics since September 2000, elected to Executive Board in 2006 for a 3 year term.
• North American Association for the History of the Language Sciences since September 1999.
• Association for Asian Studies, regular member since September 1989.
• American Oriental Society, regular member since September 1991.
• Western Branch, American Oriental Society, regular member since September 1991.
• Yuen Ren Society for the Promotion of Chinese Dialect Fieldwork, regular member since September 1991.
• Chinese Language Teachers Association, regular member since September 1992, on Board of Directors since September 2001.
• Chinese Language Teachers Association of Greater New York, founding member, from May 2002, on Board of Directors since May 2002, vice-president 2006-07.
• Circle for Chinese Historical and Comparative Dialectology, regular member since January 1994.
• Conference on Chinese Oral and Performing Literature, regular member since September 1993.
• New York Conference on Asian Studies, regular member since January 1994.
• Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies, regular member since January 1994.
• Hangzhou Pynghua Research Association (Harngjou pynghuah yanjiou huey) under the Association of Hangzhou Oral and Performing Artists (Harngjou chiuyihjia shyehuey) in Hangzhou, China, honorary member since June 1990.

• Dialect fieldwork focusing on Mandarin and Wu dialects in the Yangtze Valley region of China, under the auspices of the National Program for Advanced Study and Research in China of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with China and in affiliation with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, Summers 1995 and 1996.
• Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama, September 1990-June 1991.
• Center For Chinese Studies, National Central Library, Taipei, as a translator, November 1989-June 1990.
• Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Linguistics, Beijing, as a researcher in Chinese dialectology and language history, August 1988-June 1989.
• National Taiwan University, Taipei, as a regularly enrolled student in the Department of Chinese, September 1982-June 1983.
• Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei, September 1981-June 1983.
• Intensive Chinese in Beijing at Peking University, Summer 1980, offered jointly by the Council on International Educational Exchange and the University of Washington.