Asian Studies | Faculty
Director
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Jin Y. Park, Professor
CAS - Philosophy and Religion
Jin Y. Park is Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Founding Director of Asian Studies Program at American University. Park's research areas include East Asian Buddhism (especially Zen and Huayan Buddhism), postmodernism, deconstruction, Buddhist… More
Advisory Council
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Adam Auerbach, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Auerbach’s research and teaching interests include the political economy of development, local governance and representation, and comparative political institutions, with a regional focus on South Asia and India in particular. His first book project … More
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Justin Jacobs, Associate Professor
CAS - History
Justin Jacobs is a historian of modern China. His research concerns the northwestern Chinese borderlands, comparative Eurasian empires, and the historical politics of archaeological expeditions. He is the author of Xinjiang and the Modern Chinese Sta… More
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Ji-Young Lee, Assistant Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Ji-Young Lee’s research focuses on East Asian international relations, security, and diplomatic history. Her book, "China's Hegemony: Four Hundred Years of East Asian Domination" (Columbia University Press, 2016) examines how Chinese hegemony in … More
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Shubha Pathak, Associate Professor
CAS - Philosophy and Religion
Shubha Pathak is a historian of religions who studies the mythological literatures of India, Greece, and Rome. In addition to teaching courses on comparative philosophy and comparative religion, she is researching Greco-Roman and Indian epics in thei… More
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Li (Lily) Wong, Assistant Professor
CAS - Literature
Lily Wong received her PhD in Comparative Literature at University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research pays close attention to the politics of affect/emotion, gender/ sexuality, comparative race, as well as media formations of transpacific Chi… More
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Xiaoquan Zhang, Assistant Professor
CAS-World Lang and Cultures
Xiaoquan Raphael Zhang received his PhD in Chinese and Comparative Literature from Washington University in St. Louis. His primary research field is literature and culture of late imperial China, in particular literati and family literature/culture o… More
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Quansheng Zhao, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Quansheng Zhao is Professor of international relations and Chair of Asian Studies Program Research Council at American University; serving as Director of the Division of Comparative and Regional Studies for three terms (1999-2008). Zhao received … More
Affiliate Faculty
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Amitav Acharya, Distinguished Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
AMITAV ACHARYA is the UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, D.C., and the Chair of its ASEAN Studies Ini… More
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Akbar Ahmed, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C and the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the U.K. and Ireland. Named “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam” by the BBC, A… More
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Kuniko Ashizawa, Adjunct Instructor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Ashizawa's research interests include Japan’s foreign, security and ODA policy, U.S.-Japan-China relations, regional institution-building in Asia, and the role of the concept of state identity in foreign policy, for which she has published a numb… More
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Evan Berry, Associate Professor
CAS - Philosophy and Religion
Evan Berry is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Co-Director of the Ethics, Peace, and Global Affairs master's program. His research examines the relationship between religion and the public sphere in contemporary societies, with spec… More
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Robin Broad, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Robin Broad, Professor of International Development, established and heads SIS’s International Development Program’s unique curricular offerings on economic globalization and development and on environment and development with a focus on social, … More
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Jie Cai, Instructor
CAS-World Lang and Cultures
Jie Cai received his BA in Chinese from Shanghai Normal University in China and his MA and MLS from the University of Iowa. Prior to AU, he had been teaching all levels of Chinese for over 16 years at schools including Harvard University, Duke Univer… More
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Christine BN Chin, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Chin’s research and teaching interests are in the political economy of transnational migration, Southeast Asian studies and intercultural relations. She is the author of In Service and Servitude: Foreign Female Domestic Workers and the Malaysian … More
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Naoko Wowsugi, Professorial Lecturer
CAS - Art
Naoko Wowsugi, an artist of Korean-Japanese descent, works with photography, video, and performance as forms of communication. Naoko received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, BFA from both the Kansas City Art Institute and Osaka Univers… More
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C. Anne Claus, Assistant Professor
CAS - Anthropology
C. Anne Claus is Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department. C. Anne Claus is a cultural anthropologist who researches environmental issues in contemporary Japan. Her academic work investigates how the interplay of international and local dis… More
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Yukie Eguchi-Donovan, Adjunct Instructor
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Louis Goodman, Professor and Dean Emeritus, SIS
SIS-School of Intl Service
Louis Goodman carries out research on social change and politics in Latin America and in Asia. His current research focuses on public goods, regional alliances and development. He has published widely on civil-military relations in Latin America, on … More
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Pek Koon Heng-Blackburn, Assistant Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Pek Koon Heng teaches courses on International Relations and International Political Economy in Southeast and East Asia. She also directs SIS’s summer graduate program on “Globalization and Regionalism in East Asia” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In … More
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Randall Henning, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Professor Henning specializes in international and comparative political economy, global governance and regional integration. He has focused recently on international regime complexity and the euro crisis, the evolution of European integration, regi… More
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Miles Kahler, Distinguished Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Kahler is an expert on international politics and international political economy, including international monetary cooperation, global governance, and regional institutions. Kahler was most recently Rohr Professor of Pacific International Relations … More
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Kenneth Knight, Professorial Lecturer
CAS-World Lang and Cultures
Interests: L2 Japanese phonology; minority languages of Japan; diaspora and language attrition; minority languages and national language policy
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Easten Law, Professorial Lecturer
SIS-School of Intl Service
Easten Law's teaching and research focuses on intercultural relations, inter-religious studies, and civil society. His current interests and studies include critical pedagogy in intercultural education for global citizenship and the role religious id… More
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Surjit Mansingh, Adjunct Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Professor Surjit Mansingh presently teaches as an adjunct in the School of International Service. She retired a few years ago from her position as Professor and Chairperson, Centre for International Politics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New De… More
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Susan McDonic, Assistant Professor
CAS - Sociology
Susan McDonic's research interests include contemporary religious movements, international development, Africa, Asia and globalization. Specifically she has studied one of the world’s largest development organizations: World Vision, a faith based org… More
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James Mittelman, Distinguished Scholar in Residence and University Professor Emeritus
James Mittelman is Distinguished Scholar in Residence and University Professor Emeritus. His work focuses on globalization, development, and political economy, with emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Asia. Previously, he was Professor and Dea… More
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Jisook Paik, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
CAS-World Lang and Cultures
Dr. Jisook Paik’s research interests include SLA, language education planning, cross-cultural communication and culture in bilingual education, and qualitative methods in classroom-based research. Before she joined AU as a TESOL faculty member, she w… More
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Soon Park, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer
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Ying-Chen Peng, Assistant Professor
CAS - Art
Dr. Peng specializes in late imperial and modern Chinese art history with a focus on gender issues and globalization of material culture. Before joining the American University she worked at the National Palace Museum and the Academia Sinica, both in… More
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Tazreena Sajjad, Professorial Lecturer
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Tazreena Sajjad currently serves as Professorial Lecturer in the Global Governance, Politics and Security (GGPS) Program in the School of International Service (SIS) at American University in Washington D.C. Her areas of specialization include tr… More
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Vidyamali Samarasinghe, Professor
SIS-School of Intl Service
Vidyamali Samarasinghe is a Professor in the International Development Program of the School of International Service, American University, Washington D.C. Currently she is the Director of the International Development Program. Vidyamali Samarasing… More
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Judith Shapiro, Director - Dual Degree in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development
SIS-School of Intl Service
Dr. Judith Shapiro is on the faculty of the Global Environmental Politics program and directs the Dual Degree in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRSD) with University for Peace in Costa Rica. She is the author of China's Environmental … More
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Hye Young Shin, Professorial Lecturer
CAS - World Languages and Cultures
Dr. Shin received her Ph.D. in Multilingual and Multicultural Education from George Mason University and Master’s degree in TESOL from American University. As a native Korean, she has taught both heritage and non-heritage students in a variety of set… More
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Stephen Tankel, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Stephen Tankel is an assistant professor in the School of International Service at American University and a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Professor Tankel specializes in international security with a focus on … More
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Chenyang Xiao, Associate Professor
CAS - Sociology
Dr. Xiao earned his MA at University of Toledo, OH, and PhD at Washington State University. His main research interests include environmental beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and public opinion over environmental issues. He is also interested in applied… More
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Svetlana Xu, Senior Professorial Lecturer
CAS-World Lang and Cultures
Dr. Xu has an extensive background as a linguist in both Chinese and Russian, with an emphasis in the areas of philosophy, literature, culture and communication.Possessing an impressive academic background, Dr Xu has degrees that include a PhD from t… More
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Xiaoli Zhang, Instructor
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Yang Zhang, Assistant Professor
SIS - School of International Service
Professor Yang Zhang’s research covers the areas in comparative historical sociology, political sociology, contentious politics, and political networks, with a regional focus on China. His book project examines the emergence and development of large-… More
