Michael A. Szonyi, Professor of Chinese History, has been appointed Director of Harvard’s John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Professor Szonyi’s appointment begins on January 1, 2016.
Image: Professor of Chinese History and newly appointed Director of the Fairbank Center, Michael A. Szonyi
Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ Dean of Social Sciences, Claudine Gay, announced Professor Szonyi’s appointment after consulting with senior faculty in the department.
“I am grateful to Professor Szonyi for assuming this important responsibility, and look forward to working with him in the coming years,” Dean Gay wrote in a letter to senior faculty.
Professor Szonyi replaces the Fairbank Center’s current Director, Mark Elliott, who was appointed Harvard University’s Vice-Provost for International Affairs in September. “This is an exciting time for the Fairbank Center as it celebrates its sixtieth anniversary, and Michael is an excellent choice to continue John King Fairbank’s legacy at the Center,” said Professor Elliott.
Professor Szonyi is a social historian of late imperial and modern China. His research focuses on the local history of southeast China, especially in the Ming dynasty, using a combination of traditional textual sources and fieldwork. He is currently completing a book on the social history of the Ming military, and his previous books include Practicing Kinship (Stanford, 2002), Cold War Island: Quemoy on the Front Line (Cambridge, 2008). He is also the editor of the forthcoming Blackwell Companion to Chinese History.
“I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to lead the Fairbank Center, particularly in this time of dramatic changes in China, in China's relationship with the United States, and in the way we study China,” said Professor Szonyi.
Image: Professor Michael Szonyi with current Director and Vice-Provost for International Affairs, Mark Elliott.
Professor Szonyi holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar in the Faculty of Oriental Studies. He joined Harvard in 2005 from the University of Toronto, and was named Harvard’s John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities in 2007 and Professor of Chinese History in 2009. He has played an active role with both undergraduates and graduates at Harvard in his position as Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and Chair of the Committee on Regional Studies East Asia M.A. program.
Executive Director of the Fairbank Center, Jennifer Rudolph (Ph.D., University of Washington), welcomed Professor Szonyi’s appointment, saying “I look forward to the energy and ideas that Michael will bring to the Fairbank Center, both of which will contribute to strengthening our existing programs and helping us forge ahead in emerging areas of Chinese Studies.”
For media inquiries, please contact the Fairbank Center’s Communications Coordinator, James Evans at jamesevans@fas.harvard.edu.
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