Xin-zhu Chen, MBA and Ph.D. in history, came to Edinboro in 1999. Prior to her arrival, she contributed a number of articles in the quarterly newsletter The Forum for History and Business, published by Blue, Johnson and Associates, Menlo Park, CA, distributed to its paid subscribers. In 2006 her article, “China and the U.S. Trade Embargo, 1950-1979” (a refereed article) in American Journal of Chinese Studies, Vol. 13, October, 2006, was translated in Chinese and was published in Zhonggong Dangshi Ziliao (Materials on History of CCP), Vol. 102 (Second Quarter, 2007).
In May and June, 2008, by invitation of Peking University’s History Department, she gave two lectures to its students and faculty: “China and the U.S. Trade Embargo, 1950-72” (For undergraduates) and “A Controversy over the Korean War: Truman vs. MacArthur” (For graduate students and faculty).
As the first full-time Asian specialist at EU, she created and has taught several new Asian history courses. Utilizing her expertise in Chinese and Japanese economics and the MBA background, she also teaches International Business online.
As faculty advisor to the Asia Club, she helped students organize various activities designed to promote deeper understanding of Asian culture, such as group study of conversational Japanese and Chinese using native students as tutors. She is also instrumental in placing EU graduates at several colleges and universities in China as English instructors on an average contract of one year. Thus far, more than forty former EU students have benefitted from such an once-in-a-lifetime experience.