Julia Chang Bloch (; born 1942) is a Chinese American businessperson and diplomat, who was the first

U.S. ambassador Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the President of the United States, president to serve as the country's diplomat, diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as Ambassador-at-large, ...

of Asian descent. She is the founder and president of the US-China Education Trust.

Life and political career

Bloch was born in

Chefoo Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on th ...

(now

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the ...

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, China, and moved to the US when she was nine. Her father was the first Chinese graduate of

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, where he was classmates with Massachusetts senator

Leverett Saltonstall Leverett A. Saltonstall (September 1, 1892June 17, 1979) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He served three two-year terms as the List of Governors of Massachusetts, 55th Governor of Massachusetts, and for more than twent ...

. Saltonstall helped pass a law to allow her entire family to emigrate from Hong Kong to the US. She grew up in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where she attended Lowell High School, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Communications and Public Policy from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, in 1964, and a master's degree in Government and East Asia Regional Studies from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1967. From 1971 she was a staffer for the

Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs The United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs was a select committee of the United States Senate between 1968 and 1977. It was sometimes referred to as the McGovern committee, after its only chairman, Senator George McGove ...

, and thereafter worked in a number of other roles, including administering a food-aid program. She was appointed ambassador to Nepal by President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; p ...

in 1989, a post she held until 1993. In 1993, Bloch left the public sector to become a group executive vice president at

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

, where she created the corporate relations department, heading the bank's public relations, government affairs and public policy operations. In 2007, Bloch served as National Co-Chair of Asian Pacific Americans for Mitt during Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign.

Philanthropy and education work

During her career Bloch has engaged in a variety of non-profit educational endeavors, the majority of which seek to promote educational and cultural exchange between the US and China. In 1988, she and her husband Stuart Marshall Bloch established the F.Y. Chang Foundation in honor of Bloch's father, Chang Fuyun, the first Chinese national to graduate from

. The foundation currently offers scholarships to Chinese students to study at Harvard Law. From 1996-1998, Bloch was president and CEO of the United States-Japan Foundation. In 1998, she turned her energies back toward China, first serving for a year as a visiting professor at the Institute for International Relations of the American Studies Center at

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...

. At this time, Bloch became an advocate for expanding academic collaborations between Chinese and American universities, and in particular for expanding the role of

American Studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory. Sch ...

programs on Chinese university campuses, and simultaneously served as executive vice chairman of Peking University's American Studies Center. Soon after she founded the US-China Education Trust, an educational

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

which sponsors education and exchange programs for Chinese and American students and scholars. The nonprofit held its first collaborative program, an academic workshop on the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...

, at

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is ...

in 2001. Bloch currently serves as President of the US-China Education Trust.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Julia Chang Atlantic Council Ambassadors of the United States to Nepal American women ambassadors 1942 births Living people Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American politicians of Chinese descent American women chief executives University of California, Berkeley alumni People from San Francisco Chinese Civil War refugees Lowell High School (San Francisco) alumni 20th-century American diplomats 20th-century American women 21st-century American women