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               Chai, Winberg


son of Professor Ch'u Chai and Ruth Mei-en Tsao Chai
father of May-lee Chai
 

Education:
B.A., Wittenberg, 1955
MA 1958 New School for Social Research
PhD 1968 New York University
D.H.L. 1997, Wittenberg University

Professor of Political Science at UW since 1988
Director of International Programs at UW 1988-1993

Dr. Chai is an expert on Chinese culture and politics. He has authored and co-authored more than 20 books and 50 articles mainly on China and Taiwan. He has taught the following courses at UW: Non West Political Cultures, Government and Politics of Asia, Media and Politics, and East Asia Political Economy.

Dr. Chai has devoted more than 30 years to teaching in private and public colleges and universities. He formerly held positions as Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of South Dakota and as Department Chair at University of Redlands, California and City College of the City University of New York.

Other professional experience includes several years in business, government consultancy and foundation management. Dr. Chai has held positions such as Chairman at the Third World Conference Foundation of Chicago, and Consultant and Advisor to the Royal Government of Saudi Arabia. He is listed in who's who in the world.


WINBERG CHAI was born in Shanghai. He received his Ph.D. from New York University, and later became the first Asian American vice president of a state university. The author of more than twenty books on China, he is currently a political science professor at the University of Wyoming.

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During the Convocation ceremony, an honorary Doctor of Letters degree was conferred upon Winberg Chai, the author of 22 books on Chinese culture, politics, U.S. foreign policy, and international development; chairman of the Third World Conference Foundation of Chicago; and a professor of political science at the University of Wyoming at Laramie. Chai was the first Chinese student to attend Hartwick in the early 1950s. He and his daughter, May-lee Chai, recently co-authored a book, The Girl from Purple Mountain, which was nominated for a 2001 National Book Award. The book details the experiences of three generations of the Chai family and their encounters during the Sino-Japanese and Chinese Civil Wars.
 


Daughter of Winberg Chai, MAY-LEE CHAI is the author of the novel My Lucky Face. Her short stories have been published in various publications, including Seventeen, the North American Review, and the Missouri Review. A former reporter for the Associated Press, she has also taught creative writing at San Francisco State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Chai has Master's degrees from Yale University and the University of Colorado at Boulder.


Publications:
 

Winberg Chai and Cal Clark, , (free) Political Stability and Economic Growth

Winberg Chai and May-lee Chai, eds., Chinese Mainland and Taiwan, Kendall/Hunt,

1996

May-lee Chai.   My Lucky Face.  2000
 



 

For Immediate Release July 24, 2001

WITTENBERG ALUMNI AUTHOR NOMINATED FOR NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

Springfield, Ohio - Winberg Chai The Girl From Purple Mountain May-lee Chai Released in June 2001 and already nominated for a National Book Award, The Girl From Purple Mountain, written by Sinologist Winberg Chai, Class of 1955, and his daughter, May-lee, continues to garner attention from national critics, including those at The Washington Post and The New York Times.

A true story of love, betrayal and healing set against the shifting tides of 20th Century China, the book explores the extraordinary life of the late Ruth Mei-en Tsao Chai, a member of Wittenberg University's Class of 1929 and Winberg's mother. Ruth Chai so loved Wittenberg that she named her sons after the university and her final resting place after her college dormitory, Ferncliff.

In 1937, the Japanese invasion of Nanking forced Ruth Chai and her family to flee across China, but Ruth Chai's foresight and courage kept her and her family alive, and one step ahead of the advancing army. "Credited with saving the family by insisting they immigrate to America, Ruth Mei-en Tsao Chai was a woman with impeccable judgment, a deeply ingrained set of values and high moral standards," writes Lori Tsang in The Washington Post.

The book, published by St. Martin's Press, has also been called "mesmerizing" by Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking. Look for more on this book in an upcoming issue of Wittenberg Magazine.