Pei-te Lien is new member of department faculty

The Political Science Department is pleased to announce that Dr. Pei-te Lien, a specialist in ethnic politics, will be joining the faculty as Professor of Political Science, effective July 1, 2007.

Professor Lien is recognized as one the leading scholars in the study of Asian American politics. Her recent work examines the intersection of race, ethnicity, gender, and nativity in political behavior. She is the lead author (with Dianne Pinderhughes, Carol Hardy-Fanta, and Christine Sierra) of a landmark new study exploring the impact of the voting rights act on the election of non-white official in the United States. (More information about this study can be found on the American Political Science Association's website at http://www.apsanet.org/content_44448.cfm), or the research project's website, http://www.gmcl.org.

Professor Lien received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1995. She comes to UCSB from the University of Utah, where she was Associate Professor of Political Science and Ethnic Studies. She is the author or coauthor of three books, the most recent of which is Politics of Asian America: Diversity and Community, co-authored with M. Margaret Conway and Janelle Wong (Routledge, 2004). Her sole-authored book, 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.