People
Department Leadership
Erica Brindley
Head, Department of Asian Studies
Professor of Asian Studies, History, and Philosophy
(814) 867-3261
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
Jessamyn R. Abel
Associate Professor of Asian Studies
(814) 865-3931
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
On-cho Ng
Professor of History, Asian Studies and Philosophy
(814) 867-2910
Jooyeon Rhee
Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and Comparative Literature
Director of the Institute for Korean Studies
(814) 867-5284
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
Assistant Professor of Korean
(814) 867-3260
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
(814) 867-4608
Teaching Faculty
Hyun Soon (Julie) Cho-Min
Assistant Teaching Professor in Korean
Erika Hirano
Assistant Teaching Professor of Japanese
(814) 867-4965
Haruko Iwami
Associate Teaching Professor of Japanese
Coordinator of the Japanese Language Program
(814) 867-3421
Lan Kim
Associate Teaching Professor of Korean
Coordinator of the Korean Language Program
(814) 867-3421
Ok-sim Kim
Assistant Teaching Professor of Korean
(814) 867-5284
Yupeng Kou
Assistant Teaching Professor of Chinese
Coordinator of the Chinese Language Program
(814) 867-3422
Na-Young Ryu
Assistant Teaching Professor of Korean
(814) 867-5992
Suchsmita Sen
Associate Teaching Professor of Hindi
Coordinator of the Hindi Language Program
(814) 865-1154
Hsiao-Hui Yang
Assistant Teaching Professor of Asian Studies
Affiliate Faculty
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
Grace Benner
Han Chen
Choa Choi
Muyun Zhou
Staff
Olivia Brown
Administrative Support Coordinator
(814) 863-4288
Rebecca Cross
Administrative Support Coordinator
(814) 863-5417
Laura Shaffer
Administrative Support Assistant
Head/Faculty Support for Asian Studies
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
(814) 863-4932