Expert Profile
Susan J. Pharr
Secretary, Board of Trustees
Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations; and Director, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University
Susan Pharr joined the board of trustees of The Asia Foundation in 1995. She is Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and director of Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and of the program on U.S.-Japan relations, Harvard University. She joined the Harvard faculty in 1987. From 1974-1976, she served as staff associate at the Social Sciences Research Council. Thereafter, until 1986, she was on the faculty of the department of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also has served as a senior social scientist with the Agency for International Development. Her current research focuses on shaping civil societies, and the changing nature of relations between citizens and states in Asia.