Faculty

Yunnam Seo

yunnam_seo@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Korean

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Michael Szonyi

szonyi@fas.harvard.edu

Frank Wen-Hsiung Wu Memorial Professor of Chinese History

Michael Szonyi is Professor of Chinese History and former Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. He is a social historian of late imperial and modern China. His research focuses on the local history of southeast China...

A Caucasian man with short grey hair wearing a grey suit and a Harvard tie grins enthusiastically at the camera

Sae Tagawa

saetagawa@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Japanese

A Japanese woman in a bright pink sweater smiles at the camera in the great outdoors

Chikako Takehara

ctakehara@fas.harvard.edu

Preceptor in Japanese

On Leave Spring 2026

A young woman in a loose-fitting white top with shoulder-length straight black hair smiles at the camera in front of a background of flowering bushes.

Eiko Takeichi Hodes

ehodes@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Japanese

A Japanese woman squints in the sun as she smiles at the camera

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...

Karen Thornber

thornber@fas.harvard.edu

Harry Tuchman Levin Professor in Literature and Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning

Walter Channing Cabot Fellow

Harvard College Professor

Karen L. Thornber is Harry Tuchman Levin Professor in Literature and Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, as well as Richard L. Menschel Faculty Director of the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard College Professor , Walter...

Xiaofei Tian

stian@fas.harvard.edu

Ford Foundation Professor of East Asian Studies

On leave Spring 2026.

After teaching at Colgate University and Cornell University, Xiaofei Tian joined Harvard EALC in 2000. While her main teaching and research area is Chinese literature and cultural history of the Middle Period (first through thirteenth century CE), she has...

A Chinese woman with grey hair and glasses looks at the camera penetratively

Yung-Cheng Tien

yungchengtien@fas.harvard.edu

Language Instructor in Chinese

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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...

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...