BA: Comparative Culture (Humanities), Sophia University (Japan)
MTS: Asian Religion & Gender, Harvard University
Adam Chen-Dedman is a native of Kentucky and joined Centre College in 2023 as Executive Director of the Center for Global Citizenship. He spent 25 years studying and working abroad in Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, and Australia. From 2005 to 2012 Adam served as head of International Student Services, Director of the Study Abroad program, and then Assistant to the President of International Affairs at Payap University in Thailand. From 2013 to 2019 he served as Executive Director of the Institute of South East Asian Affairs, a regional study abroad program, that was based at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. In these roles, Adam forged relationships with US colleges and universities and oversaw students from the US and other countries who were studying abroad in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
Adam is completing his PhD in Cultural Studies of Asia at The University of Melbourne (Australia) where he researches responses to Chinese nationalism, geopolitics in Taiwan's LGBTQ+ social movement, and Japanese and Thai queer cultural interactions with Taiwan. He has taught courses on LGBTQ+ activism and human rights in Asia, Sex and Politics, and Global Media Cultures. His publications can be found in Nations and Nationalism, International Journal of Taiwan Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest, and Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. Adam speaks Japanese, Thai, Mandarin, and conversational Spanish.