Program Directors
Dr. Stephen Smith is Professor of Sociology and East Asian Studies. He became fascinated with anthropology as an undergraduate at Tufts University. He traveled abroad as soon as possible, spending his junior year at the Sorbonne in Paris. For graduate school he received his M.A. in anthropology from New York University, then transferred to Columbia University to pursue Japanese studies, receiving an M.A. in East Asian Studies and Ph.D. in cultural anthropology. He has lived for several years in Japan, China and Korea, carrying out research in each on topics such as food culture, alcohol culture, and traditional medical practices. In addition, he has led many study tours and directed study abroad programs in each of those countries.
Prof. Smith came to Wittenberg in 1990. He teaches courses in both anthropology and East Asian studies, including Japanese Society, Introduction to East Asia, Food and Culture in East Asia, and East Asian Medical Systems. Following a 2004 faculty development trip on the Silk Road, Smith knew that he just had to share with students what he’d seen and learned, so he worked hard as co-director with Prof. Marcia Frost to create the Wittenberg in China: On the Silk Road summer study program.
Dr. Marcia Frost is Associate Professor of Economics and East Asian Studies. She earned her B.A. in history from Carleton College, her A.M. in South Asian Regional Studies and her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. She began teaching at Wittenberg in the fall of 2001. In addition to the summer study abroad program On the Silk Road she offers three courses for the East Asian Studies program: The Silk Road, Economies in Transition and The Economy of China. She also teaches Economic Development, Labor Economics, and American Economic History for the Economics Department, and a first-year interdisciplinary seminar From the Steppes of Chinggis Khan on Mongolia.
Dr. Frost brings to the Wittenberg in China: On the Silk Road program her research and living experiences in India, China and Mongolia. She was one of 16 participants in the month-long Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar in China in 2002, and led the Wittenberg Faculty Development trip along the Silk Road in July 2004. In the summer of 2006 she returned to travel the Silk Road, and was one of 16 participants in the five week long National Endowment for the Humanities Institute The Silk Road: Early Globalization and Chinese Cultural History. In the summer of 2007 she co-directed the Wittenberg in China: On the Silk Road program and taught a course on China’s economy for the CET program in Beijing.
Zhang Xu “Matthew” is the national guide and interpreter for the program. Based in Beijing, Zhang Xu has organized and led tours along the Silk Road for nearly two decades (including the trips with Drs. Smith and Frost in 2004, 2006 and 2007), and has a well deserved reputation for successful experiences working with American academics and students over many years. Zhang Xu has excellent English skills, and was instrumental in developing this program. In addition he is a highly skilled connoisseur of jade; his particular expertise is with Hotan jade.
In addition to his responsibilities to co-ordinate all program activities in China (transportation, housing, police permits, guest speakers, site visits, etc.) and with local guides, he translates, helps students acquire some basic survival Chinese, and lectures on jade. As one of our students wrote this past summer, “Matthew is AWESOME!”
