The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology today (15 January 2009) announced the appointment of a world renowned scholar, Prof James Z Lee, as Dean of Humanities and Social Science with effect from 1 May 2009.
Prof Lee is an eminent scholar in humanities and social science. His research covers a wide range of disciplines, including Chinese history, Chinese society and economy, comparative demography, sociology of populations, as well as historical sociology, genealogy and health.
Announcing the appointment, HKUST Vice-President for Academic Affairs Prof Roland Chin said that Prof Lee will play a crucial role at HKUST as the Dean of Humanities and Social Science in developing a multi-disciplinary common core program under the four-year undergraduate program starting in year 2012.
“The School is also introducing in 2010 its first ever undergraduate Humanities and Social Science major – in Global China Studies. This will be a major milestone in the history of HKUST and we are delighted to have Prof Lee to provide the academic leadership and intellectual guidance at this important juncture of the Schools’ development”, Prof Chin added.
Prof Lee is currently Frederick Huetwell Professor of History and Sociology, Research Professor at the Population Studies Center, and Faculty Associate at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan. He is also the Director of the University of Michigan-Peking University Joint Institute and from 2003 to 2008 was Director of the University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies.
Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Prof Lee spent over two decades at the California Institute of Technology where he was a faculty member in the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences from 1982 to 2003.
Prof Lee obtained his PhD in History from University of Chicago in 1983 and has won numerous honors, including the Social Science History Association’s Allan Sharlin Award for Best Book in Social Science History in 2000, and two American Sociological Association section best book awards in 2000 and 2005.
He is also the founding editor of a refereed journal Late Imperial China, a member of numerous editorial boards, and in 2004 won the highly prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
Ross Lai
Tel: 2358 6306 / 9103 2928
Email: rosslai@ust.hk
Donna Wong
Tel: 2358 6317
Email:donnaw@ust.hk
