American Politics, Identity, Asian American Politics, U.S. Racial and Ethnic Politics, Public Opinion and Political Behavior
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Ph.D., University of Florida, 1995
C.V. (in .pdf format)

Professor Lien’s primary research interest is the political participation and representation of Asian and other nonwhite Americans. Most of her recent work examines the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, and nativity in political behavior, both of the elites and the mass. She is a co-principal investigator of the Gender and Multicultural Leadership project http://www.gmcl.org,

Lien has four book titles under her name.  The Making of Asian America Through Political Participation (Temple University Press, 2001), received the 2002 best book award on political participation, voting, elections, and political behavior from the American Political Science Association's Division on Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. The Politics of Asian Americans: Diversity and Community (Routledge, 2004), coauthored with M. Margaret Conway and Janelle Wong, is based on her National Science Foundation-sponsored Pilot National Asian American Political Survey (SES-9973435). The dataset is available online as ICPSR Study No. 3832 at http://webapp.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR-STUDY/03832.xml.  Her latest book, co-edited with Chris Collet, explores the world of political transnationalism among Asian Americans.

Lien serves as co-President of the Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association (http://www.apsanet.org/~rep/) for 2007-2009 and is on the Executive Council of the Western Political Science Association (2009-2012).  She is the founding co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, a related group of the American Political Science Association. She is also a founding member of the APSA Committee on the Status of Asian Americans. She serves on the editorial advisory boards of the Asian American Policy Review, Journal of Asian American Studies, and Journal of Women, Politics & Policy. Prior to joining UCSB, she taught at the University of Utah for 12 years.

Courses Taught: 

"Activity Amidst Diversity: Asian American Political Participation," with Janelle Wong and M. Margaret Conway, in Jane Junn and Kerry Haynie eds., New Race Politics in America: Understanding Minority and Immigrant Politics ( New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 70-94.

"Gender, Race, and Descriptive Representation in the United States: Findings from the Gender and Multicultural Leadership Project."  Journal of Women and Public Policy 28(3/4): 7-21.  With Carol Hardy-Fanta, Dianne Pinderhughes, and Christine M. Sierra (September 2007).

"The Voting Rights Act and the Election of Nonwhite Officials," with Dianne Pinderhughes, Christine Sierra, and Carol Hardy-Fanta. PS: Political Science & Politics 40(3): 489-494 (Lead author, 2007).

"Ethnic Homeland and Chinese Americans: Conceiving a Transnational Political Network," in Tan Chee Beng, ed., Chinese Transnational Networks (Routledge, 2007), pp. 107-121

"The Voting Rights Act and Its Implications for Three Nonblack Minorities," in The Voting Rights Act: Securing the Ballot. Landmark Events in U.S. History Series (CQ Press, 2006), pp. 129-144.

"Transnational Homeland Concerns and Participation in U.S. Politics: A Comparison among Immigrants from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong." Journal of Chinese Overseas 2(1): 269-298 (May 2006).