 She also received numerous grants and fellowships from Harvard, Yale, and Santa Barbara, allowing her to travel and take students on study trips to learn about art and culture around the globe including Mesoamerica, New Guinea, West Africa, China, Tibet, and Europe.In the 1980s when China re-opened its borders to travel, Kuan led her first of many archaeology trips there.Through study and teaching abroad in China, Kuan forged the strong relationship between Southwest University in China and the College of St. Benedict and St. Johns University, which remains today.