People
Department Leadership

Erica Brindley
Head, Department of Asian Studies
Professor of Asian Studies, History, and Philosophy

Shuang Shen
Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Chinese
Director of Graduate Studies
(814) 863-0589

Jessica Birkenholtz
Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Director of Undergraduate Graduate Studies
(814) 865-5747
Faculty


Jonathan E. Abel
Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Japanese
(814) 865-2263


Kathlene Baldanza
Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies
(814) 863-0131

Jessica Birkenholtz
Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Director of Undergraduate Graduate Studies
(814) 865-5747

Gretchen Casper
Associate Professor of Political Science and Asian Studies
(814) 865-8748

Tina Chen
Associate Professor of English and Asian American Studies
Editor, Verge: Studies in Global Asias
(814) 863-9592

Madhuri Desai
Associate Professor of Art History and Asian Studies
(814) 865-4885

Charlotte Eubanks
Professor of Comparative Literature, Japanese, and Asian Studies
(814) 863-4933


Jooyeon Rhee
Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Comparative Literature
Director of the Institute for Korean Studies

Flora Shao
Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Asian Studies
(814) 865-4847

Shuang Shen
Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Chinese
Director of Graduate Studies
(814) 863-0589

Jayoung Song
Watz Early Career Professor in Language and Linguistics
Assistant Professor of Korean and Applied Linguistics

Susan G. Strauss
Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Asian Studies
Editor, The Korean Language in America Penn State University
(814) 863-7986

Chang Tan
Assistant Professor of Art History and Asian Studies
814-867-3708

Nicolai Volland
Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Comparative Literature
(814) 867-3422

Xiaoye You
Liberal Arts Professor of English and Asian Studies
(814) 863-4533

Ning Yu
Professor of Asian Studies and Applied Linguistics
(814) 867-7365

Ran Zwigenberg
Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Jewish Studies
Teaching Faculty

Hyun Soon (Julie) Cho-Min
Assistant Teaching Professor in Korean




Haruko Iwami
Associate Teaching Professor of Japanese
Coordinator of the Japanese Language Program

Lan Kim
Associate Teaching Professor of Korean
Coordinator of the Korean Language Program

Ok-sim Kim
Assistant Teaching Professor of Korean
(814) 867-5284

Yupeng Kou
Assistant Teaching Professor of Chinese
Coordinator of the Chinese Language Program






Suchsmita Sen
Associate Teaching Professor of Hindi
Coordinator of the Hindi Language Program



Hsiao-Hui Yang
Assistant Teaching Professor of Asian Studies

Affiliate Faculty

Aparna Parikh
Assistant Teaching Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Asian Studies

Michelle Bae-Dimitriadis
Assistant Professor of Art Education & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Soo-yong Byun
Associate Professor of Education, Demography, and Asian Studies
(814) 863-1626

Suresh Canagarajah
Edwin Erle Sparks Professor in Applied Linguistics, English, and Asian Studies
Director, Migration Studies Project
(814) 865-6229

Eric Hayot
Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Asian Studies
(814) 865-1188

Ronnie Hsia
Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History
(814) 863-8942

Elaine Hui
Assistant Professor of Labor and Employment Relations and Asian Studies
(814) 865-0066

Prakash Kumar
Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies
(814) 863-4923

Flynt Leverett
Professor of International Affairs and Asian Studies

Sara Liao
Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Asian Studies

Xiaofei Lu
Professor of Applied Linguistics and Asian Studies
(814) 865-4692

Kimberly Powell
Associate Professor of Education, Art Education and Asian Studies
(814) 865-7318

Bee-yan Roberts
Professor of Economics and Asian Studies
(814) 863-1996

Gonzalo Rubio
Associate Professor of Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and History
(814) 863-4946

Mary Shenk
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Demography, and Asian Studies

Gregory Smits
Professor of History and Asian Studies
(814) 863-0172

Vineeta Yadav
Associate Professor of Political Science
(814) 867-3715

Boliang Zhu
Associate Professor of Political Science
(814) 865-6901
Graduate Students

Arunima Addy

Han Chen


Choa Choi














Muyun Zhou
Staff

Olivia Brown
Administrative Support Coordinator
Head/Department Support
(814) 863-4288

Rebecca Cross
Administrative Support Coordinator
(814) 863-5417


Tom Spencer
Department of Asian Studies Academic Adviser
(814) 865-0342
Emeriti Faculty

Reiko Tachibana
Emerita Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Japanese, and Asian Studies