ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:



Aram Hur joined the Department of Political Science as an Assistant Professor in 2019 and holds a joint appointment with the Truman School of Public Affairs. She also serves as Co-Director for the MU Institute for Korean Studies. Previously, she was a Provost Postdoctoral Fellow at New York University and a 2018-19 U.S.-Korea NextGen Scholar selected by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University, M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School, and B.A. from Stanford University. Dr. Hur’s research focuses on national politics and democracy, with particular focus on issues of identity change, integration, and democratic support in East Asia. Her work is published in academic journals such as the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, and Journal of East Asian Studies, and cited in media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Foreign Policy.

Katrin Fraser Katz is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University and an Adjunct Fellow (Non-resident) in the Office of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. Dr. Katz’s research, which has been supported by grants from the Korea Foundation and the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, explores the interplay of cooperation and conflict in East Asia’s political, economic, and security dynamics. She has taught in the Asian Studies Program at Georgetown University and was a 2018-19 US-Korea NextGen Scholar. In 2017, she received the inaugural Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture Series award from the Korea Society. Dr. Katz served as director for Japan, Korea, and oceanic affairs on the staff of the White House National Security Council from 2007 to 2008. She was also a special assistant to the assistant secretary for international organization affairs at the U.S. Department of State and an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University; a master’s degree in East Asian and international security studies from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she was awarded the John C. Perry Scholarship for East Asian Studies; and a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in international relations and Japanese from the University of Pennsylvania.

David C. Kang is Maria Crutcher Professor in International Relations, Business and East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California, with appointments in both the School of International Relations and the Marshall School of Business. At USC he is also director of the Korean Studies Institute. Kang’s latest book is American Grand Strategy and East Asian Security in the 21st Century (Cambridge University Press, 2017). He is also author of East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute (Columbia University Press, 2010); China Rising: Peace, Power, and Order in East Asia (Columbia University Press, 2007); Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines (Cambridge University Press, 2002); and Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies, co-authored with Victor Cha (Columbia University Press, 2003). He received an A.B. with honors from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from Berkeley.