East Asian Studies

Faculty

Craig Banjamin, Associate Professor of History. B.A. & Ph.D., Macquarie University. Research interest: ancient central Asia.

Wei Gu, Assistant Professor of Education, B.A., Nanjing University, China; M.Ed., Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University. Research interests: elementary teacher education, comparative education.

Joseph Helgert, Associate Professor of Communications. B.A., University of Wisconsin-Parkside; M.A., University of Iowa; M.I.M., American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird); Ph.D., Union Graduate School. Japan Management Program, Japan-America Institute of Management Science/University of Hawaii, Saskawa Fellow, American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Ongoing research on Japanese advertising and continued interest in cross-cultural communications. 

Sufen Lai, Associate Professor of English. B.A., Tunghai University; M.A., Ph.D., University of Illinois. Teaches classical literature and mythology in a comparative context; trained in comparative literature, particularly East-West relations. 

Kin M. Ma, Assistant Professor of Geography and Planning, M.S., Ph.D., Michigan State University. Research interests: remote sensing, geographic information systems, cartography, forest resources, natural resource management, geography of Asian countries: China, Taiwan, Japan, North and South Korea.

Peimin Ni, Professor of Philosophy, B.A., M.A., Fuda University; Ph.D., University of Connecticut. Teaches Asian philosophy and serves Editor-in-Chief of the “Chinese and Comparative Philosophy” book series. Research interests: Asian and comparative philosophy, with emphasis on Confucianism and modern West.

Jeremy Robinson.  Assistant Professor of Japanese.  B.A. and M.A., University of Colorado; Ph.D., University of Michigan.  Research Interests: Japanese poetry and poetic theory, Japanese theater, humor, and folklore.

Patrick Shan, Associate Professor of History. B.A., Henan University; M.A., Liaoning University; M.A., Ph.D., McMaster University. Research interests: Modern Chinese history. 

Geling Shang, Associate Professor of Philosophy. B.A., Fudan University; M.A., Old Dominion University, Tubingen University; Ph.D., Temple University. Research interests: Taoism and Buddhism, especially Zhuangzi, with a comparative approach. 

Curtis Dean Smith, Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures. B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison; M.A., University of Hawaii; Ph.D., National Taiwan Normal University. Research interests include: Classical Chinese literature and thought, Northern Song, Su Shi, Daoism, Buddhism.

Wanxiao Sun, Associate Professor of Geography and Planning. B.S., Nanjing University; M.S., Chinese Academy of Sciences; Ph.D., University of Mainz, Germany, Postdoctoral Researcher, UC Berkeley. Research interests: remote sensing, image classification, information fusion, mapping plant functional types, Geographic Information Systems, computer cartography, and 3D visualization and simulation.

Yosay Wangdi.  Associate Professor of History. B.A., Loreto College; M.A., M. Phil, Jadavpur University; M.S. & Ph.D., University of Nevada, Reno. Research interests: South Asia, environment, China, Tibet and Buddhism.

Shinian Wu,  Professor of English. B.A., Xian Institute of Foreign Languages; M.A., Ph.D., Northern Arizona University. Professor Wu serves as the Program Coordinator of East Asian Studies and the Chinese Studies major. Research interests: Theoretical and applied linguistics; second language acquisition; sociolinguistics; assessment and evaluation.

Yan Liang, Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures. B.A., Nankai University; M.A., Peking University; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara. Research interests: Late Imperial Chinese literature, vernacular fiction, and Chinese popular culture.

Yan Yu, Associate Professor of Sociology, B.A., M.A., Beijing University; Ph.D., Florida State University. Research interests: work and family lineages, family dynamics, family policies, life course, gender, race/ethnicity, social organizations and change.

Gang Xu, Associate Professor of Geography and Planning. M.S., The Chinese Academy of Sciences; Ph.D., Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. Research interests: economic geography, geographic information systems, globalization, tourism, China, Japan, and East Asia.

Peter Zhang, Assistant Professor of Communications. B.A., Xi’an Jiaotong University; M.A., Nankai University; Ph.D., Indiana University. Research interests: intersection of rhetoric, cultural studies, entrepreneurship, critical organizational communication, political theatrics, and transition-period China. 

Yi Zhao, Assistant Professor of Political Science. B.A., Peking University; M.A., Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; M.S. L., Yale Law School; Ph.D., Yale University. Research interests: Chinese politics, legal development in China, and comparative judicial politics.