East Asian Studies Affiliated Faculty

The following faculty members from across the University may be available to serve as thesis advisors to East Asian Studies concentrators. Concentrators writing an interdisciplinary thesis may choose more than one advisor from different departments, in order to better guide their research and writing.

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Alexander Zahlten

azahlten@fas.harvard.edu

Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Chair, Regional Studies East Asia

On leave 2026-27

Alexander Zahlten's research interests center on film and audiovisual culture in East Asia, with a focus on Japan. His work explores fundamental shifts in how we engage with media through the connections between larger economic, social, and institutional...

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Amy Zhang

Ph.D. Alumna in Chinese Literature

Writing Communities into Being: The Art of Linked Verse

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Andrew Gordon

agordon@fas.harvard.edu

Lee and Juliet Folger Fund Professor of History

On leave Fall 2025

Andrew Gordon’s teaching and research focus primarily on modern Japan but he has also taught Japan’s premodern history and courses on comparative history of labor. He has written, edited, or translated numerous books, including one that won the John King...

Asahi Matsumoto

asahimatsumoto@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Japanese

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Asako Higurashi

asakohigurashi@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Japanese

Chan Yong Bu

cbu@fas.harvard.edu

Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

On leave 2026-27

Chan Yong Bu’s research focuses on the entanglements of the body, science, and technology within media culture as crucial sites for human-nonhuman relations. In particular, Chan Yong works on industrial media in South and North Korea, media spectacles in...

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Chia-Yin Yu

chiayin_yu@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Chinese

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Chikako Takehara

ctakehara@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Japanese

On Leave Spring 2026

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Danica Truscott

dtruscott@fas.harvard.edu

Lecturer on Classical Japanese (Bungo) and Kanbun

Danica Truscott is a scholar of premodern Japanese literature who specializes in works from the early and classical periods (710-1185). She received her Ph.D. in 2022 from UCLA’s Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. Dr. Truscott also holds an A.M...

Daniel Koss

koss@fas.harvard.edu

Associate Senior Lecturer on East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Research Scholar in East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Daniel Koss studies political parties in East Asian politics. His first book, published in 2018, investigates the role of political parties under authoritarianism through the case of the Chinese Communist Party. Asking why the Chinese state is "stronger"...

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David Atherton

datherton@fas.harvard.edu

Thorley D. Briggs 1953 Associate Professor of the Humanities

David C. Atherton is a scholar of literature, focusing primarily on Japan’s early modern period (also known as the Edo or Tokugawa period, ca. 1600-1867). His work seeks to understand how the intrinsic, literary dynamics of early modern texts interacted...

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David L. Howell

dhowell@fas.harvard.edu

Robert K. and Dale J. Weary Professor of Japanese History

Professor of History

On leave 2025-26

Professor David L. Howell grew up in Hilo, Hawai'i. After graduating from the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, he studied at Hokkaido University in Sapporo and Princeton University, where he received his Ph.D. in History. He taught at the University of...

David Wang

dwang@fas.harvard.edu

Edward C. Henderson Professor of Chinese Literature

On leave Fall 2026

David Der-wei Wang holds a joint appointment in Comparative Literature. He is Director of CCK Foundation Inter-University Center for Sinological Studies, and Academician, Academia Sinica. His research interests include modern and contemporary Chinese...

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Fangzheng Zhang

fangzhengzhang@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Chinese

Interim Senior Preceptor in Chinese

Acting Director of Chinese Language Program (2026)

Fangzheng Zhang is the Interim Senior Preceptor in Chinese in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University and serves as the Acting Director of the Chinese Language Program in 2026. He has been teaching at Harvard since...

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Gulnar Yulghun

geziz@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Uyghur and Chaghatay

Director of the Uyghur/Chaghatay Language Program

Dr. Gulnar Eziz Yulghun has held the position of Preceptor at Harvard University since January 2020, where she instructs courses in Chaghatay (Eastern Middle Turkic, 14 th to 20 th century) and Uyghur (Southeastern Turkic) languages. She gained her PhD in...

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Hana Ikeda

hikeda@fas.harvard.edu

Acting Preceptor in Japanese

Language Instructor in Japanese

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Helen Hardacre

hardacre@fas.harvard.edu

Reischauer Institute Research Professor of Japanese Religions and Society, Emerita

Professor Helen Hardacre began the study of Japanese religions as an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, and she earned her doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1980, studying with Professor Joseph Kitagawa. Her research on religion focuses on...

Hi-Sun Kim

hisun@fas.harvard.edu

Senior Preceptor in Korean

Director of the Korean Language Program

In the Fall of 2015, Hi-Sun Kim joined the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations as the Director of the Korean Language Program. Prior to coming to Harvard, she served for over 10 years as the director of the Korean Language Program at the...

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Hoa Le

hle@fas.harvard.edu

Senior Preceptor in Vietnamese

Vietnamese Language Program Director

Hoa Le (Lê T. Vinh Hoa) joins the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations in the Fall of 2022 from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa where she taught Vietnamese language courses and applied linguistics. Her research interests include Task...

I-Chuan Wei

ichuanwei@fas.harvard.edu

Acting Preceptor in Chinese

Language Instructor in Chinese

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Ian J. Miller

ian_miller@harvard.edu

Reischauer Institute Professor of Environmental History

Faculty Dean of Cabot House

Professor Miller's bio can be found at https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/ian-miller

James Robson

jrobson@fas.harvard.edu

James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations;

Harvard College Professor

Director, Harvard-Yenching Institute

James Robson is Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. He has served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Regional Studies East Asia M.A. program. He teaches East Asian religions, in particular Daoism, Chinese Buddhism, and Zen. Robson...

Janet Gyatso

jgyatso@hds.harvard.edu

Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Harvard Divinity School

Janet Gyatso is a specialist in Buddhist studies, concentrating on Tibetan and South Asian cultural and intellectual history. Her books include Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary (Princeton, 1998); In the Mirror of...

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Jennifer Li-Chia Liu

liu02@fas.harvard.edu

Professor of the Practice of Language Pedagogy

Director of the Chinese Language Program

On Leave Calendar Year 2026

Jennifer Liu came to Harvard in 2011 as the Director of the Chinese Language Program. As Director, she is responsible for recruiting, training, and supervising about 24 teachers who offer 20-22 language courses annually to approximately 700 students. She...

Jie Li

jieli@fas.harvard.edu

Ford Foundation Professor of East Asian Studies

Harvard College Professor

Director of Graduate Studies

As a scholar of literary, film, and cultural studies, Jie Li’s research interests center on the mediation of memories in modern China. Her first book, Shanghai Homes: Palimpsests of Private Life (Columbia University Press, 2014, shortlisted for the...

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Kwok Leong Tang

kwokleongtang@fas.harvard.edu

Lecturer on East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Digital China Project Manager

Kwok-leong Tang serves as a lecturer for the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and the Managing Director of the Digital China Initiative at Harvard University. By training, he is a historian. He received his bachelor's and master's...

Kyoungwon Oh

kyoungwon_oh@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Korean

Leonard van der Kuijp

vanderk@fas.harvard.edu

Professor of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies

Chair, Committee on Inner Asia and Altaic Studies

On Leave Fall 2024

Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp is Professor of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies and chairs the Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies. Best known for his studies of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist thought, he is the author of numerous works. Recent publications...

Lindsay Schaffer

lindsayschaffer@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Korean

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Linlin Xiong

linlin_xiong@gse.harvard.edu

Acting Preceptor in Chinese

Language Instructor in Chinese

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