The AAS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies represents the highest honor the AAS can bestow.
Originally named the “Award for Distinguished Service,” in 1992 it was renamed the “AAS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies.” It is intended to honor outstanding scholarship and service to the field. The award follows the same rotational pattern by area that is used for other nominations. The sitting President (corresponding to the council submitting nominations for the award) traditionally has had the most input in determining the award, which ultimately is approved by the AAS Board.
2024 Honoree: Susan Shirk
Susan Shirk is research professor and founding chair of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California, San Diego. Her distinguished career has spanned the top reaches of government service and academia. She was part of the first group of American scholars to visit China in 1971, during the Nixon-era thawing of U.S.-China relations. A MIT Ph.D. in political science, her five monographs, two edited volumes, and numerous scholarly articles and other writings have had an intellectual impact well beyond China Studies. Susan Shirk is a pioneer in bridging the gap between area studies and the discipline of political science. Two recent books, Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise (Oxford University Press, 2022) and China: Fragile Superpower (Oxford University Press, 2008), are defined by their prescient analysis of China’s politics, leadership, and its evolving role on the world stage.
Susan Shirk excels in teaching and has generously mentored many early career scholars. Additionally, she has used her China knowledge for government service. From 1997-2000, Dr. Shirk served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, with responsibility for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mongolia. For her intellectual leadership, institution building, and policy contributions, Susan Shirk richly deserves the Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies Award, the highest honor the AAS can bestow.
Previous Honorees
Full citations for honorees from 1998 to 2018 can be read here.
2023: Richard M. Eaton
2022: Anna Tsing
2021: Nancy Abelmann (posthumous), Norma M. Field
2020: Patricia Buckley Ebrey
2019: Sylvia Jane Vatuk
2018: David Chandler
2017: James L. Huffman
2016: Lyman Van Slyke
2015: Frederick M. Asher
2014: Charnvit Kasetsiri
2013: David Plath
2012: Charlotte Furth
2011: Sumit Sarkar
2010: Anthony J.S. Reid
2009: Martina Deuchler
2008: Zhang Zhongli
2007: John F. Richards
2006: Taufik Abdullah
2005: Edwin McClellan
2004: Cho-Yun Hsu
2003: Romila Thapar
2002: Jane Richardson Hanks
2001: James B. Palais
2000: Ono Kazuko
1999: Eleanor Zelliot
1998: Benedict Anderson
1997: Eleanor Hadley
1996: K. C. Chang
1995: Joseph W. Elder
1994: Lian Tie Kho
1993: Maruyama Masao
1992: Wing-tsit Chan
1991: Edward C. Dimock, Jr.
1990: Oliver William Wolters
1989: Francis B. Tenny
1988: Eugene Wu
1987: Clifford Geertz, John K. Galbraith, Catherine A. Galbraith
1986: Ronald Philip Dore, Maureen L.P. Patterson
1985: Derk Bodde, J. William Fulbright
1984: Milton B. Singer, Francis X. Sutton