2010 – Dr. Meredith Jung-En Woo

Dr. Meredith Jung-En Woo is currently the president of Sweet Briar College. At the time of her award, she was serving as the dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia. She came to UVA from the University of Michigan, where she served most recently as professor of political science and associate dean for the social sciences in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Prior to her eight years on the Michigan faculty, she taught for 12 years at Northwestern University, where she helped rebuild the department of political science and co-founded the Center for International and Comparative Studies.

An expert on international political economy and East Asian politics, she has written and edited seven books, and was the executive producer of an award-winning documentary film about Stalin’s ethnic cleansing of Koreans during the Great Terror. President Bill Clinton appointed her to serve on the Presidential Commission on U.S.-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy. She has consulted for the World Bank, the United States Trade Representative, Asian Development Bank Institute, the Asia Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

A native of Seoul who was educated in Seoul and Tokyo through high school, she came to the United States to study at Bowdoin College in Maine. She completed her master’s and doctoral degrees in international affairs, Latin American studies and political science at Columbia University.