The College of Arts & Sciences will celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the Cornell Levinson Program in China and Asia-Pacific Studies (CAPS) – and a new faculty director for the program — at an April 24 symposium on the Ithaca campus.
The event, set for 1:35-6:30 p.m. in Room 120 of the Physical Sciences Building, will feature a faculty panel focused on U.S.-China Relations; a conversation between Zachary Montague ‘13, a reporter for The New York Times, and Peter John Loewen, Harold Tanner Dean of Arts & Sciences; and a career panel with CAPS alumni. All of the events are free and open to the public.
“The panel discussion offers a chance for conversation about U.S.-China relations both within the framework of current geopolitical events and in the longer term,” said Patrizia McBride, Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Senior Associate Dean for Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Programs. “And we’re excited to hear Zachary and Dean Loewen talk about the historic importance and value of partnerships between American and International universities, particularly through the lens of Zachary’s own experiences.”
The day’s schedule includes:
- 1:35 p.m.: Welcome and introductions by Loewen and Michael J. Zak ’75, member, Center for a New American Security and board of directors & partner emeritus, Charles River Ventures
- 2 p.m.: Faculty panel featuring Peter Katzenstein, the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies in the Department of Government (A&S); Diana Fu, the new Levinson Program director; and Jason Oaks M.A. ‘13, who leads the China team at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research
- 3:15 p.m.: “Higher Ed and International Partnerships,” a conversation between Loewen and Montague, who formerly covered the education department and education policy and now covers federal courts and the balance of power in the federal government
- 4:15 p.m.: Allen Carlson, associate professor of government and former Levinson Program director, in conversation with Levinson program alums Randy Wan ’12, Strauss Cooperstein ’22, Shauna DeLorenzo ’19, Angela Pan’ 23 and Isaac Herzog ’23
- 5:30 p.m.: Reception
Fu will join Cornell in July 2026 and will take over as the new Levinson Program faculty director in January 2027. Her research focuses on authoritarian politics, civil society and diaspora statecraft in contemporary China. Her 2018 book, “Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China,” won awards from several scholarly associations, including the American Political Science Association’s Luebbert prize for the best book in comparative politics.
She is a senior non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and a public intellectual fellow with the National Committee on US-China Relations. In those capacities, she is a regular commentator on Chinese politics for domestic and international media and her research has been covered in The Economist and Reuters. She previously served as a co-national secretary for the Rhodes Scholarship in China.
“I am particularly enthusiastic about working with the students of the Levinson Program who I see as critical linchpins in a time of tension between the United States and China,” Fu said. “These students are among the privileged few Americans who understand China not just from textbooks and the New York Times, but also from the ground-up. This is an invaluable perspective to have in a time when geopolitics is shaped by fear rather than mutual understanding.”
The Brittany and Adam J. Levinson Program in China and Asia-Pacific Studies offers students the opportunity to study contemporary China through a set of courses on China's language, history, politics, economy, society and foreign relations. Students also take part in experiences both on-and-off campus, including three years in Ithaca, one optional semester in Washington D.C. and one required semester in Beijing.
“The Levinson Program is distinctly designed to train the future generations of leaders that are well equipped with China expertise to navigate the inevitable challenges in U.S.-China relations,” said Xu Xin, program manager for the Levinson Program and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Government (A&S). “Through its rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum and strategic partnership with Peking University, its impacts on students in both their formative undergraduate education and later careers are real and indispensable.”
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