Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
I am Professor of Chinese Literature at the University of Virginia, where I also serve as department chair of East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and as director of the Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures. A scholar of premodern Chinese literature, I have published extensively on medieval (Han through Tang dynasties) literary and cultural history, with 5 books and over 45 articles, chapters, translations, and reviews. My work takes up questions of sovereignty, empire, court literature, social networks, historiography, and most recently, our relationships to nonhuman animals (cats) and post-human entities (ghosts). I have wide experience as an academic leader and administrator, both in terms of international professional associations and university roles. I have overseen a recent decennial review of the department that I chair and successfully launched a major new phase of the humanities institute that I direct.