Field: Modern Tibetan Studies, Tibetan Songs, and Musical Performances
Phuong Chung Nguyen Named 2026 Vietnamese Language Ambassador
Phuong Chung Nguyen, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Vietnamese Language Program at Columbia University, has been selected as a 2026 Vietnamese Language Ambassador Abroad, representing the United States. The recognition, presented by Vietnam’s State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, honors individuals who have made significant contributions to teaching, preserving, and promoting the Vietnamese language around the world. In 2026, eight ambassadors from eight countries and territories were selected.
At Columbia, Chung Nguyen has worked to strengthen Vietnamese language education and connect it with Vietnam Studies, cultural programming, and community engagement. The award recognizes her continuing commitment to bringing Vietnamese language and culture to students and communities in the United States.
Read the Culture Newspaper article
Yong-ha Kim
Yong-ha Kim
Tang Center Postdoctoral Research Scholar; Lecturer, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Email: yk2727@columbia.edu
Office Hours: Mondays 1:50–3:50 p.m. and by appointment
Educational Background
PhD: Columbia University
Classes Taught
ASCE UN1002 Intro to Major Topics: East Asian Civilization – Making and Experiencing the State in East Asia
Yong-ha is a Tang Center Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, specializing in early Chinese history. His research focuses on the tension between early Chinese empire formation and local diversity. Yong-ha’s dissertation, “Rethinking Unification: Ideology, Standardization, and Local Accommodation in the Qin Empire (221–207 BCE),” critiques the concept of “unification” by examining how it can shroud the violence of conquest and obscure the accommodation of local diversity in the process of early Chinese empire-building. He deploys excavated texts, archaeological materials related to local administration as well as received texts to reconstruct the history of this era. He is also interested in the comparative history of ancient empires and civilizations and is building a database of ancient artifacts held in museums around the world. He is additionally engaged in translating scholarship on ancient civilizations beyond China into Korean.
