Meredith Jung-En Woo, Buckner W. Clay Dean of Arts & Sciences
Meredith Woo has served as the dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences since June 2008. She came to the University of Virginia from the University of Michigan, where she served most recently as professor of political science and associate dean for the social sciences in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Prior to her eight years on the Michigan faculty, she taught for 12 years at Northwestern University, where she helped rebuild the department of political science and co-founded the Center for International and Comparative Studies.
An expert on international political economy and East Asian politics, she has written and edited seven books, and was the executive producer of an award-winning documentary film about Stalin’s ethnic cleansing of Koreans during the Great Terror. President Bill Clinton appointed her to serve on the Presidential Commission on U.S.-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy. She has consulted for the World Bank, the United States Trade Representative, Asian Development Bank Institute, the Asia Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.
A native of Seoul who was educated in Seoul and Tokyo through high school, she came to the United States to study at Bowdoin College in Maine. She completed her master’s and doctoral degrees in international affairs, Latin American studies, and political science at Columbia University.
Research Interests
Woo's teaching and research interests include international political economy, economic development, East Asian politics, and U.S.-East Asian relations.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
- Ph.D. in Political Science (with distinction), Columbia University, May 1988
- M.A. in Latin American Studies, Institute of Latin American Studies, Columbia University, January 1985
- M.A. in International Affairs, School of International Affairs, Columbia University, January 1982
- B.A. (magna cum laude), Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, May 1980. Majors: History
Employment
- Associate Dean for Social Sciences, College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan, 2007–2008.
- Korea Foundation Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan, 2003–2008.
- Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan, 2001–2008.
- Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University, 1995–2001.
- Assistant Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University, 1989–1995.
- Visiting Assistant Professor, Columbia University
Selected Publications
- Race to the Swift: State and Finance in Korean Industrialization (Columbia University Press, 1991), published under the name Jung-en Woo.
- Past as Prelude: History in the Making of the New World Order (Westview Press, 1993).
- Capital Ungoverned: Liberalizing Finance in Interventionist States (Cornell University Press, 1996).
- The Developmental State (Cornell University Press, 1999).
- Co-author, Presidential Report, Building American Prosperity in the 21st Century: Report of the Presidential Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy (Government Printing Office, 1997).
- Neoliberalism and Institutional Reform in East Asia (UNRISD, 2007).