Shien Biau Woo (born August 13, 1937) is a Chinese American professor and politician from

Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 31,454. The University of Delaware is ...

. He was a member of the Democratic Party and served as the 21st

lieutenant governor of Delaware The lieutenant governor of Delaware is the second ranking executive officer of the U.S. state of Delaware. Lieutenant governors are elected for a term of four years in the same general election as the U.S. president and take office the following ...

Early life and family

Woo's ancestral hometown is

Yuyao Yuyao () is a county-level city in the northeast of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the sub-provincial city of Ningbo. It is located west of central Ningbo, east of Hangzhou, bordering Hangzhou Bay in the north. Yuyao ...

Zhejiang Province ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

. He was born in 1937 in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. His parents fled the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social revolution, social and political revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the Chinese C ...

in 1949 to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

with him, he studied at Hong Kong Pui Ching Middle School, and then he came to the United States at the age of 18. He received undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Physics from

Georgetown College Georgetown College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains. The college offers over 40 undergraduate degrees and a Mas ...

in Kentucky and his PhD in Physics from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

. He married in 1963 and has two children. In 1966, he joined the faculty of the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

, where he became a professor of physics and astronomy. He retired in 2002 after 36 years.

Political career

In his first attempt at public office, Woo was elected

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

in 1984. He won the Democratic primary election by defeating two veteran state senators, Nancy W. Cook of

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

and David McBride of New Castle. In the general election he narrowly defeated Republican Battle R. Robinson of Georgetown, who was the first woman to practice law in Sussex County and the assistant legal counsel to retiring Governor

Pete du Pont Pierre Samuel "Pete" du Pont IV (January 22, 1935 – May 8, 2021) was an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 68th governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985. A member of the Republican Party, he was the United State ...

. Woo thus became one of the highest-ranking

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

public officeholders in the nation and served one term from January 15, 1985 until January 20, 1989. Woo narrowly won the Democratic primary election for U.S. Senator in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, defeating

Samuel S. Beard Sam Beard (born 1939) is a social entrepreneur, and public servant. With Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Robert Taft Jr., Sam created and Co-Chaired the Jefferson Awards, an American Nobel Prize for public service and youth leadership training. ...

, an heir to a railroad fortune and resident of Greenville, Delaware. In fact, the election appeared to be lost until an error in the tabulation was discovered, which changed the result. Nevertheless, Woo lost the general election to the

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Republican Senator

William Roth William Victor Roth Jr. (July 22, 1921 – December 13, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware. He was a veteran of World War II and a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republi ...

. Likewise, in 1992, he was the Democratic candidate for the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from Delaware's sole congressional district, but lost the election to retiring Gov.

Mike Castle Michael Newbold Castle (born July 2, 1939) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 69th governor of Delaware from 1985 to 1992 and as the U.S. representative from from 1993 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Th ...

by twelve points. Woo became an Independent in 2000 and announced his intention not to accept a federal appointment in order to advance public perception of his neutrality without any personal partisan benefit.

Professional career

Woo is a leader in the greater Chinese American community throughout the country from which his political activities dependably received strong financial backing. He is the former president of the 80-20 Initiative, a group that attempts to organize

Asian Pacific American Asian/Pacific American (APA) or Asian/Pacific Islander (API) or Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) or Asian American and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) is a term sometimes used in the United States when including both Asian ...

s (APAs) into a swing bloc-vote in presidential elections, intending to induce both major political parties to take the interests of the APA community into consideration. He also serves as a Professor Emeritus of Physics and Trustee of the

, and an Institute Fellow at the

Harvard Institute of Politics The Institute of Politics (IOP) is an institute of Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University that was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in politics and ...

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

. A life-sized picture of him is displayed in Smithsonian's

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...

in Washington D.C. Another picture of him is in an interactive display in the lobby of Asia Society in New York City. In 2000, ''

A Magazine ''A. Magazine'' was an Asian American–focused magazine published by A.Media, Inc., and headquartered in midtown Manhattan with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco.Wan, William.Pop Culture Asian American Magazine Falters. ''Los Angeles Tim ...

'' ranked him the 6th of the 25 Most Influential Asian Americans.

Almanac

Elections are held on the first Tuesday after November 1. The Lieutenant Governor takes office the third Tuesday of January and has a four-year term.

References

External links