The expertise of the degree’s core faculty covering economics, management, political science and policy analytics, is supplemented by other UC San Diego scholars who specialize in Chinese politics, society, history and language. The result is academic and professional training that prepares graduates for an array of academic, business, diplomatic and government positions.
Professor, GPS; Director, UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation
Cheung is a leading authority on Chinese national security, defense and science, technology and innovation policy. His book “Fortifying China” provides a pathbreaking examination of the forces responsible for the emergence of a formidable defense economy.
Assistant Professor
Research Fields: China, electricity markets, energy policy, climate change policy
Assistant Professor, GPS
An economist, Jia focuses on the interplay of economics, history and politics, with an emphasis on China. One stream of her research focuses on elite formation and elite influence—in both historical and modern contexts. She has studied how competence and loyalty jointly determine who becomes a top politician in China. She has also investigated how incentives of politicians affect workplace safety and pollution. Her work has appeared in Econometrica and other top journals.
Professor of Practice, GPS
Michael is a leading expert on business in China, having formerly led the Greater China business of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Michael has spent more than a decade in Beijing and served on the Strategy Board of China Mobile Corp., one of China's largest SOEs. He currently serves on the Board of Taiwan Cement Corp. He has authored six articles in the Harvard Business Review on China and emerging markets business topics, and numerous BCG reports on Chinese consumers and companies.
So Kwan Lok Chair of Chinese International Affairs, GPS
Naughton is a leading scholar of comparative and transition economics and author of the widely used textbook “The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth” (revised edition, forthcoming 2017). He has done pioneering work on the Chinese economic model as well as China's economic policymaking process.
Assistant Professor, UC San Diego Department of Political Science
Roberts has completed pioneering work on the operation of online censorship and propaganda in China. She develops and uses innovative text analytics methods to analyze massive text datasets in Chinese.
Assistant Professor, GPS
Shi studies the ways in which China’s engagement with the rest of the world reflects its domestic political and economic realities—that is, the intersection of Chinese politics and international political economy. Prior to academia, Shi worked in international development in Laos and Zambia witnessing firsthand China's rapidly growing impact abroad.
Ho Miu Lam Chair in China and Pacific Relations, Associate Professor, GPS
Shih researches elite politics and political economy of China. He is published widely on the politics of Chinese banking, fiscal policies and exchange rates. His recent works focus on using elite biographical data to describe elite networks and to make inferences about promotions and purges in the Chinese Communist Party.
Research Professor, GPS; Chair, 21st Century China Center
Shirk was one of the first scholars to apply a rigorous political science framework to the study of Chinese politics in “The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China.” She first visited China in 1971 and later served as deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for U.S. policy toward China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia from 1997-2000. She is currently co-chair of the Bipartisan Task Force on China Policy for the Next Administration.