Lucie Cheng, a UCLA sociologist whose scholarship on Chinese Americans and other Asian immigrants helped propel the field of Asian American studies in new directions, examining such issues as class and gender, died last month in Taiwan. She was 70: Lucie Cheng, sociologist who promoted Asian-American studies, dies at 70.
Cheng was director of UCLA's Asian American Studies Center from 1972 to 1987 and founding director of its Center for Pacific Rim Studies. Under her leadership, the university developed a highly regarded master's program in Asian American studies as well as groundbreaking academic exchange programs with China.
Cheng was an early advocate of broadening the field to examine issues involving not only immigrants from China but also from Korea, Southeast Asia and India.
After leaving UCLA in the mid-1990s, Cheng returned to Taipei, where she grew up, to become founding dean of Shih Hsin University's Graduate School for Social Transformation Studies. She also became publisher of an independent newspaper in Taiwan and promoted efforts to improve media literacy there.
More from the UCLA Newsroom: Obituary: Lucie Cheng, 70, former director of UCLA Asian American Studies Center. And more on UCLA's Department of Sociology website: In Memoriam - Lucie Cheng.
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