Springfield, Ohio - In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, Wittenberg Professor of Political Science and East Asian Studies Bin Yu was recently invited by the U.S. Army War College to speak at the prestigious institution in Carlisle, Pa.
Yu, a senior fellow of the Shanghai Association of American Studies and senior fellow at the Russian Studies Center of the East China Normal University in Shanghai, took a one-year leave in 2013-14 from Wittenberg to spend time working on the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. He spoke during the official AAPI Heritage Month observance, scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. at Indian Field located on the Army War College's 500-acre campus of historic Carlisle Barracks on May 15.
The invitation was quite a surprise to Yu, who had served in the Chinese infantry and was deployed along the 7,000-kilometer border with Russia half a century ago at the height of the Cold War.
"This invitation is the first for me to speak for a non-academic event," Yu said. "It is an honor to be invited."
A distinguished scholar, Yu has participated in many research and teaching programs for the U.S. military academies in the areas of security, military and foreign policy issues covering East Asia, China, Russia, the Korean War, etc. His expertise has also led him to present at the Navy Warfare College, Air War College in Alabama, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Marine Corps University in Virginia, and several other training programs of the U.S. military bases around the country. Additionally, Yu participated in a weeklong lecture series at the U.S. Air War College.
"The world has changed so much, and so has America," Yu said. "We need more unity, understanding and compromise precisely when the nation is being torn by rival ideologies and social-economic inequalities. I hope this will serve the Army's theme for this year's AAPI celebration: 'Unite Our Voices by Speaking Together.'"
Yu is the author/co-author of six books and more than 140 book chapters and articles in journals including World Politics, Strategic Review, China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Asia Policy, Asian Survey, International Journal of Korean Studies, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Harvard International Review, and others. Since 1999, he has also been a regular contributor on Russia, China and Central Asia in the quarterly journal Comparative Connections of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.. Moreover, he has published numerous op-ed pieces in many leading English- and Chinese-language media outlets around the world.
Yu, who received his Ph.D. from Stanford University, has been a professor at Wittenberg since 1991.
The Army joins the nation in honoring Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent for their military and civilian service within the department. According to the U.S. Army's website, these individuals have proudly served in America's Army from the Civil War to current operations all around the world. The "Asian-American and Pacific Islander" designation encompasses more than 50 ethnic or language groups, including native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.
Also according to the Army's site, the observance began when Congress passed a joint congressional resolution in 1978 to commemorate Asian Pacific American Heritage Week during the first week of May. This date was chosen because two important anniversaries occurred during this time:
- The arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in America in 1843.
- The completion of the transcontinental railroad.
