East Asia | Asian Studies Center

Encompasses China, Japan, North Korea, and South Korea

Clark-Chilson

Given Name:

Clark

Family Name:

Chilson

Photograph:

Rank:

Associate Professor

Department:

Religious Studies

Office:

2610 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-624-5977

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

chilson@pitt.edu

Area of specialization:

Religious Studies; Japanese Religion and Culture

Qualifications:

PhD, Lancaster University, 2004

Publications:

2013 Secrecy’s Power: The Conflicting Consequence of Concealment for Covert Shin Buddhists in Japan, University of Hawai‘i Press

2012 “Preaching as Performance: Notes on a Secretive Shin Buddhist Sermon.” In Studying

Buddhism in Practice, edited by John Harding, pp. 142–153. London: Routledge.

2012 “Searching for a Place to Sit: Buddhism in Modern Japan.” In Buddhism in the Modern World, edited by David L. McMahan, pp. 49–68. London: Routledge.

Müge Kökten-Finkel

Given Name:

Müge Kökten

Family Name:

Finkel

Photograph:

Rank:

Assistant Professor

Department:

Public and International Affairs

Office:

3933 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-383-9483

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

mfinkel@pitt.edu

Area of specialization:

Gender and Development; Global Governance; Poverty and Human Development; Poverty and Global Economy; Social Policy and Development in International Organizations; Japanese Government and Politics, Capstone: Program Design and Evaluation

Biography:

Dr. Müge Kökten Finkel is Assistant Professor of International Development at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) at University of Pittsburgh. She completed her PhD in Political Science at the University of Virginia, specializing in Comparative Social Policy and Japanese Politics; her MA in International Relations from International University of Japan in Japan, and her BA in Political Science from Bogazici University in Turkey. Prior to joining GSPIA, she worked as a Social Development Specialist at the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa Region, and consulted for the International Food Policy Research Institute. She has worked on various development projects in Yemen, Egypt and Morocco. Her areas of expertise are Community-Driven Development, especially related to youth and women’s issues; Social and Environmental Impact Assessment; Country Social Analysis; Participatory Program Development; and Gender and Development. Among her publications are What Makes a Camp Safe: the Protection of Children from Abduction in Internally Displaced Persons and Refugee Camps, Co-authored with Simon Reich (2008); “Voices of the Youth: Background Papers and Country Case Studies from Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Yemen”, and “Securing a Future for All, Middle East-North Africa Regional Social Development Strategy” both co-authored with the MNA Social Development Team for the World Bank. She has been teaching courses on Gender and Development; Social Policies and International Organizations; Poverty and Human Development; Global Governance and Japanese Politics. Her recent research focuses on gender policies and empowerment outcomes under institutionalized and politicized Islam. She speaks Turkish, Japanese and German.

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Virginia, 2002

Publications:

2008 “What Makes a Camp Safe: the Protection of Children from Abduction in Internally Displaced Persons and Refugee Camps”, Co-authored with Simon Reich, Ford institute for Human Security, University of Pittsburgh

2006 “Community Driven Development: Problems of Operationalization in the Middle East and North Africa Region”, Co-authored with Knut Opsal, MNA Regional Working Paper Series, the World Bank

2006 “Voices of the Youth: Background Papers and Country Case Studies from Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Yemen” for the WDR 2007: Development and the Next Generation, the World Bank

Alan-Juffs

Given Name:

Alan

Family Name:

Juffs

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor

Department:

Linguistics

Office:

2833 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-624-5901

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Email Address:

juffs@pitt.edu

Region:

East Asia

Area of specialization:

Applied Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Teaching English as a Second Language

Qualifications:

PhD, McGill University, 1994

Publications:

2014 Sociocultural influences on the use of a web-based tool in learning English vocabulary. System.

2013 The Effects of Vowel Phoneme-Grapheme Ambiguity during Reading by Native English, Arabic, and Chinese Speakers. An eye-tracking study. To be submitted to applied psycholinguistics.

2013 Information Retrieval for Reading Tutors. In C. Chapelle, (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Pat K.-Chew

Given Name:

Pat K.

Family Name:

Chew

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor

Department:

Law

Office:

528 Law Building

Office phone number:

412-648-1387

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Email Address:

patchew@ptit.edu

Region:

East Asia

Area of specialization:

Judicial Decision-making in Racial Harassment Cases; Subtly Sexist Language in the Legal Profession and Law Schools; The Role of Culture and Race in Legal Disputes; Empirical Research in Civil Rights Laws

Biography:

Pat Chew is the Salmon Chaired Professor and Distinguished Faculty Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and a University Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award recipient. In addition to Pitt, she has taught at the University of Texas, University of Augsburg, and the University of California (Hastings). Her numerous presentations, both in the United States and abroad, are currently on judicial decision-making in racial harassment cases, subtly sexist language in the legal profession, the role of culture and race in legal disputes, and empirical research on civil rights disputes. Judicial groups and law schools across the country have invited her to speak. Professor Chew’s research is diverse, both in subject areas and methodologies. She has written dozens of articles in both general interest and specialized law journals, including in Washington University Law Review, William and Mary Law Review, Wisconsin Law Review, Ohio State Journal of Dispute Resolution, Stanford Journal of Civil Rights, Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, Berkeley Journal of Employment Law, and the Journal of Legal Education. The most read American Bar Association (ABA) article in 2010 focused on her empirical work on judges. She also has authored numerous books, treatises, and casebooks in dispute resolution, business laws, and culture and conflict. They include INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION: CONSENSUAL ADR PROCESSES (coauthored) and THE CONFLICT AND CULTURE READER. Professor Chew is the inaugural recipient of the Keith Aoki Excellence in Asian American Jurisprudence Award in 2011. Currently on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS), which is the Association’s board of directors, she is also a member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and an American Bar Foundation Fellow. Over the years, she has served on many committees and spoken at numerous programs for the AALS, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), and the American Bar Association (ABA). Among other national leadership roles, she was the Chair of the AALS Section on Women in Legal Education (the largest AALS section), a Council member of the General Practice Division of the ABA, and an early co-organizer of annual Asian-American law faculty conferences. Prior to teaching, she practiced corporate and international law with Baker & McKenzie in Chicago and in San Francisco. Professor Chew received a J.D. and a Masters in Educational Psychology degree from the University of Texas and an undergraduate degree in psychology from Stanford University. The youngest of six children, she grew up in El Paso, Texas in a Chinese-American family. Her spouse is a management consultant and a business school professor. They have two young-adult children.

Qualifications:

JD, University of Texas, 1982

Publications:

2011 Arbitral and Judicial Proceedings: Indistinguishable Justice of Justice Denied? Wake Forest L. Rev.

2011 Judges’ Gender and Employment Discrimination Cases: Evidence-Based Empirical Conclusions, Iowa J. of Gender, Race & Justice.

2010 Seeing Subtle Racism, 6 Stanford J. Civil Rights & Civil Liberties 183

Katheryn-Linduff

Given Name:

Katheryn

Family Name:

Linduff

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor Emeritus

Department:

History of Art and Architecture

Office:

128 Frick Fine Arts Building

Office phone number:

412-648-2409

Regional specialty:

East Asia

China

Email Address:

linduff@pitt.edu

Region:

China

Area of specialization:

Early Chinese art history and archaeology; Eurasian archaeology

Biography:

Katheryn M. Linduff joined the faculty in 1973 and specializes in Eurasian and East Asian Art history and archaeology and holds appointments in both HAA and Anthropology (in Archaeology) and has guided PhD students in both Art History and Archaeology. She is especially interested in the rise of complex society, and especially in the interplay of ethnic, cultural and gender identity with economic and political change in antiquity. Her study of early China and Inner Asia has led to many books and papers, the most recent of which include Monuments, Metals and Mobility: Trajectories of Complexity in the Late Prehistoric Eurasian Steppe, with Bryan Hanks (Cambridge University Press, 2009); Are All Warriors Male? Gender Roles on the Ancient Eurasian Steppe, with Karen S. Rubinson (AltaMira Press/Roman & Littlefield Publishing, Inc., 2008); The Beginnings of Metallurgy from the Urals to the Yellow Rivers, Katheryn M. Linduff (Mellen Press. 2004); Gender and Chinese Archaeology, AltaMira Press, 2004 [in English] 2006 [in Chinese]; The Emergence of Metallurgy in China, Edwin Mellen Press, 2000. She has conducted a regional settlement survey in eastern Inner Mongolia (see: The Chifeng International Collaborative Archaeological Research Project, Regional Archaeology in Eastern Inner Mongolia: A Methodological Exploration. Science Press 2003) that aimed to reconstruct social and political organization across the region from the late Neolithic (c. 4000 BCE) through to about 200 CE. Her current projects include a book Through the Looking Glass: Visualizing Place and Others in China, including sections on ‘Dynastic Leaders and Other Ethnics in Antiquity’; The Construction of Identity in the pre-Tang; Remaining Sogdian in China; Self-definition, the Wenji scrolls and the Song; a collaborative project on the Bronze Age of Dynastic China in the late Shang and Zhou and Interaction with their northern neighbors with Cao Wei and Sun Yan; and another collaborative project with Karen S. Rubinson on workshop practices, production and trade to and from China across Eurasia between 4th c. BCE and 2nd c. CE.

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 1972

Publications:

2013 “Imperial Expansion in the Late Warring States and Han Dynasty Periods: A Case Study from South Central Inner Mongolia,” with Gregory Indrisano, in Archaeological Histories and Anthropological Interpretations of Imperialism, Gregory E. Areshian (ed.), Cotson Institute of Archaeology, UCLA Press

2013 “Gender Archaeology in East Asia and Eurasia,” with Karen S. Rubinson, in A Companion to Gender Prehistory, Diane Bolger (ed.), London: Wiley-Blackwell

2012 “Ritualization of Weapons in a Contact Zone: Between the Past and the Present, with Yang Jianhua, in the Archaeology of Power and Politics in Eurasia: Regimes and Revolutions, Charles W. Hartley, G. Bike Yazicioglu, and Adam T. Smith, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Karen-Gerhart

Given Name:

Karen

Family Name:

Gerhart

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor

Department:

History of Art and Architecture

Office:

118C Frick Fine Arts Building

Office phone number:

412-648-2408

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

kgerhart@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Pre-modern Japan--all periods

Biography:

Professor Gerhart’s research and teaching encompass a wide range of topics in the history of art and architecture in pre-modern Japan. Her research interests are in the relationship between art and social function, and art and ritual. Recent book publications include The Material Culture of Death in Medieval Japan (2009) and The Eyes of Power: Art and Early Tokugawa Authority (1999) and articles on the influence of Chinese iconography, issues of patronage and travel, and the use of images in ritual context. She has presented numerous papers at professional meetings, including the Association of Asian Studies and the College Art Association. She teaches both undergraduate courses and topically organized graduate seminars; recent offerings include Japanese Landscape Painting, Portraits and Rituals in East Asia, and Ancient Japan.

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Kansas, 1992

Publications:

Forthcoming “The Death and Funeral of Imperial Consort Ishi (1076-1103) in Chûyûki, eds. Joan Piggot and Yoshida Sanae. Cornell University Press.

2013 Review of Thomas Conlon’s From Sovereign to Symbol: An Age of Ritual Determinism in Fourteenth-Century Japan (Oxford University Press, 2011) in Journal of Japanese Studies

2009 The Material Culture of Death in Medieval Japan. University of Hawaii

Minglu-Gao

Given Name:

Minglu

Family Name:

Gao

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor

Department:

History of Art and Architecture

Office:

213 Frick Fine Arts Building

Office phone number:

412-648-2416

Regional specialty:

East Asia

China

Email Address:

minglu@pitt.edu

Region:

China

Area of specialization:

Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art

Biography:

Gao Minglu has been an active critic, curator, and scholar of contemporary Chinese art since the mid 1980s. His exhibitions on the subject are among the most important ever assembled in the U.S. and China. His many publications explore the changing relationship between global art movements and Chinese tradition.

Qualifications:

PhD, Harvard University, 1999

Publications:

2011 Total Modernity and the Avant-Garde in Twentieth-Century Chinese Art MIT Press.

2009 Yi School: Thirty Years of Chinese “Abstract Art” Barcelona: La Cáxia Foundation.

2005 The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art New York and Beijing: The Albright Knox Art Gallery and China Millennium Museum.

Evelyn S.-Rawski

Given Name:

Evelyn S.

Family Name:

Rawski

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor Emeritus

Department:

History

Office:

3507 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-648-7458

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

esrx@pitt.edu

Region:

China

Area of specialization:

East Asian Research; Chinese Studies Since 1950; Chinese Ritual Music in Social Context; Comparative Nationalisms; European Imperialism, 1450-1750; Historiography of Modern Imperialism; Capitalism in World History; East Asian Portraiture in Ritual Context; Capitalism and Empire; Texts and Contexts; Globalization and History

Qualifications:

PhD, Harvard University, 1968

Publications:

2012 “The Manchu Hongloumeng,” in Andrew Schonebaum and Tina Lu, eds. Approaches to Teaching The Story of the Stone (Dream of the Red Chamber). (New York: Modern Language Association of America), pp. 144-58.

2012 “Sons of Heaven: The Qing Appropriation of the Chinese Model of Universal Empire,” in Universalism: Genealogies of Imperial Culture and Representation, edited by Peter Fibiger Bang and Dariusz Kołodziejczyk (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 233-49.

2010 “Qing Historical Studies in North America: Research, Teaching and Resources” (“BeiMei Qingshi yanjiu,jiaoxue yu qi wenxian ziyuan”), pp. 195-225 in Chinese Studies in North America: Research and Resources, ed. Zhang Haihui et al. Beijing: Zhonghu shuju.

Thomas G.-Rawski

Given Name:

Thomas G.

Family Name:

Rawski

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor Emeritus

Department:

Economics

Office:

4256 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-648-7062

Regional specialty:

East Asia

China

Email Address:

tgrawski@pitt.edu

Region:

East Asia, China

Area of specialization:

Economy of China

Qualifications:

PhD, Harvard University

Publications:

2011 “Can China Sustain Rapid Growth Despite Flawed Institutions?” Chapter 5 in In Search of China’s Development Model: Beyond the Beijing Consensus, ed. S. Philip Hsu and Suisheng Zhao. London: Routledge

2011 “Human Resources and China’s Long Economic Boom,” Asia Policy no. 12 (July 2011): 33-78. Chinese version in Jingjixue jikan (China Economic Quarterly) 10.4: 1153-1186.

2011 “Is China's Development Success Transferable?” Chapter 15 in Reform and Development: What Can China Offer to the Developing World? ed. Ho-Mou Wu and Yang Yao. London and New York: Routledge

Brenda G.-Jordan

Given Name:

Brenda G.

Family Name:

Jordan

Photograph:

Rank:

Staff

Affiliated Faculty

Department:

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Office:

4134 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-648-7763

Regional specialty:

Asia

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

jordanb@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Modernization and Modernity Issues in Meiji Period Japan; Issues of censorship; Artist Biography; Creation of Persona; Related Issues of Artistic Flouting, Playfulness and the Juxtaposition of the Traditional and the Contemporary in the Making of Art in Nineteenth Century Japan

Staff Title:

Director, National Consortium for Teaching About Asia

Biography:

Brenda G. Jordan received her PhD from the University of Kansas in Japanese art history. She teaches for the Departments of East Asian Languages and Literatures and History of Art and Architecture. Her research interests are early modern and modern Japanese art history, specifically issues of the dynamics of modernization and modernity in Japan. Jordan is the Director of the National Coordinating Site for the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. She also serves as the program manager for the Japanese internship program, as part of her duties as Japan studies coordinator. She is an avid gardener in her spare time, and enjoys traveling and hanging out with her husband and daughter Erika.

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Kansas, 1993

Contact if:

Contact Dr. Jordan if you are interested in Japan studies, Japan internships, or K-12 professional development for educators.

Publications:

2013 “The Trickster in Japanese Art.” In: Education about Asia, Vol. 18, No. 1.

2007 “Potentially Disruptive: Censorship and the Painter Kawanabe Kyôsai” in Hiroshi Nara, ed., Inexorable Modernity, Japan’s grappling with modernity in the arts, Lexington Press

2003 Copying the Master and Stealing His Secrets: Talent and Training in Japanese Painting. Co-authored and co-edited book. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Pres

Staff Ranking: