People

Susan Shirk is Research Professor and Chair of the 21st Century China Center at  UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy.

She is one of the most influential experts working on U.S.-China relations and Chinese politics. She previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (1997-2000), responsible for U.S. policy toward China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia and she founded and continues to lead the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, an unofficial forum for discussions of security issues. She is Director Emeritus and Advisory Board chair of the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, has served as a member of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, the Board of Governors for the East-West Center in Hawaii, the Board of Trustees of the U.S.-Japan Foundation and the Board of Directors of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

For her distinguished teaching, research and service, she was awarded the 2015 Roger Revelle Medal, the highest honor given by the Chancellor to a UC San Diego faculty member.   She is the author of China:  Fragile Superpower; Changing Media, Changing China; and The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China.