Events

Current and Upcoming

Institutional Building and Individual Agency: Higher Education Leadership Amidst Changing US-China Relations

November 5, 2026
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
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School of International and Public Affairs, 420 West 118th Street, Room 918, New York, NY 10027

For non-Columbia affiliates, registration is required to access the Morningside campus. After registering you will receive an email with a QR code that must be presented along with a valid government-issued ID (your name must match exactly the name registered for the event) at either the 116th Street & Broadway or 116th Street & Amsterdam gates for entry. Please register using a unique email address (one email address per registrant) by 4:00 pm on Nov. 4 for campus access.

Names will be submitted for QR codes 1-2 days prior to the event. Registrants will receive an email from CU Guest Access with the QR code before or on the day of the event. NOTE: You cannot access campus using the QR code from Eventbrite.

Speaker: Wenying Xu, Professor of English Emerita, Jacksonville University in Florida

Moderator: Qin Gao, Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice, Columbia School of Social Work 

The Rise of Chinese American Leaders in U.S. Higher Education: Stories and Roadmaps is a 2023 book edited by Drs. Honggang Yang and Wenying Xu. In this book talk, co-editor Wenying Xu will draw from the 36 personal narratives from prominent Chinese American academic leaders featured in this book to discuss the roles of institutional building and individual agency against the backdrop of changing US-China relations. She will highlight how these leaders navigate the influence of geopolitics and advance higher education leadership in American universities.

Speaker's Bio:

Dr. Wenying Xu is a Professor of English Emerita at Jacksonville University in Florida. She received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Pittsburgh specializing in 19th-century American literature. She has taught American Literature, Multiethnic Literature of the United States, World Literature, and Literary Theory at Truman State University, Sichuan University in China, Florida Atlantic University, Xiamen University in China, Chatham University, and Jacksonville University. She is the author of numerous journal articles, book chapters, fiction, poetry, and scholarly books including Ethics and Aesthetics of Freedom in American and Chinese Realism (2003), Eating Identities: Reading Food in Asian American Literature (2008), and Historical Dictionary of Asian American Literature and Theater (2012 & 2022), whose 2nd edition was chosen by the Library Journal as the Best Reference Book of 2022. She has served in such leadership roles as Department Chair, Ph.D. Program Director, Associate Dean, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and President of the Society for the Study of Multiethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS). 

This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.

Registration:

  • To attend this event in-person, please register HERE.
  • To attend this event online, please register HERE.

Contact Information

Julie Kwan