Benjamin A. Elman (born 1946) is Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Princeton University. His teaching and research fields include

Chinese intellectual The current status of Chinese intellectuals reflects traditions established in the imperial period. For most of this period, government officials were selected from among the literati on the basis of the Confucian civil service examination system. ...

and cultural history, history of science and history of education in late imperial China.Elman, Benjamin A.
WorldCat

Academic career

Elman earned his B.A. from Hamilton College in 1968. He was in the Peace Corps in Thailand, 1968 - 71 serving as provincial zone office and field supervisor for the Thailand National Malaria Eradication Project in Nakhon Sawan, Uthaitani, Chainat, Kamphaengphet, and Tak provinces along Burmese border. The Peace Corps provided instruction in Thai language and in epidemiological procedures. Upon leaving the Peace Corps, he was with the New York State Department of Public Health, 1972.Curriculum Vitae
/ref> Elman earned a Master's Degree from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

, Washington in 1972 - 73. Enrolled in M.A. Program in Area Studies: Modern China. He studied in Taipei, Taiwan through the Inter— University Center for Chinese, in the academic year 1973–74, then the Inter–University Center for Japanese, Tokyo, Japan 1977–78. He received his Ph.D. in Oriental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania (1980), studying with Nathan Sivin and

Susan Naquin Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...

. He was Ziskind Lecturer, a short term position, in East Asia Studies at Colby College, Waterville, Maine, 1980–82; University of Michigan, Center for Chinese Studies, 1984– 85; Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Rice University, Houston, Texas, 1985–86. From 1986-2002 he was Associate Professor and full Professor, University of California, Los Angeles. From 1999 to 2001 he was the Mellon Visiting Professor in Traditional Chinese Civilization at the Institute for Advanced Study. He joined the Princeton faculty in 2002. In 2011 he delivered the

Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures The Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures is a series of lectures at Harvard University sponsored by the John King Fairbank Center established in 1986 to be given annually in memory of Edwin O. Reischauer. The lectures are then published by Harvard Unive ...

at Harvard.

Major publications and research interests

* * * with

Alexander Woodside Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

, ed., * * * *

Reference and further reading

* * Peter Perdue, (review) A Cultural History of Modern Science in Late Imperial China (2006)

Interview
Princeton University, Department of History.

Notes

External links

Princeton Department of History

Curriculum Vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elman, Benjamin A. 1946 births Living people 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American sinologists Princeton University faculty Hamilton College (New York) alumni American University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Peace Corps volunteers American expatriates in Thailand American expatriates in Taiwan American expatriates in Japan 21st-century American male writers