Meredith Jung-En Woo

Meredith Jung-En Woo is an American academic and author. She is a Professor of Practice at the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. She served as President of Sweet Briar College, and is the former director of the International Higher Education Support Program at the Open Society Foundation in London. She also served as the Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia. Personal life Woo was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, and attended an international high school in Tokyo, Japan. Her father, Yong-Hai Woo, was a noted economic planner and diplomat who led the reparation mission for South Korea in Japan. She graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College, majoring in history. She has earned an M.A. in international affairs and Latin American studies, and a Ph.D. in political science, from Columbia University. Her dissertation was awarded the university's highest distinction. Her brother-in-law, Cho Yoon-je formerly served as South Korean ambassador to the United States. She is married to Dr. Neal Kassell, a neurosurgeon who is the founder and chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. Career Woo serves on the board of the American Hospital of Paris Foundation. She is a trustee of the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh; and in her capacity as the Director of International Higher Education Program, served ex officio on the board of the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, and the Governing Board of the European Humanities University, Vilnius, Lithuania. Woo was appointed by President Bill Clinton 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, Social Science Research Council, Asian Development Bank Institute, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, the Asia Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of East Asian Politics, Studies in Comparative International Development, as well as the Contemporary Politics Series on Comparative Political Economy, published in Beijing. She serves as an occasional guest expert on Asian politics for such media outlets as PBS, CNN, and The New York Times.