Joanna Waley-Cohen (born 10 June 1952) is a professor of history and chair of the Department of History at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

. She specializes in early modern Chinese history

History of China

Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era, but the Yellow River is said to be the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest...

, Chinese imperial culture, and China and the West.

Biography

She is the daughter of Sir Bernard Waley-Cohen

Bernard Waley-Cohen

Sir Bernard Nathaniel Waley-Cohen, 1st Baronet , was a British businessman. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1960. He was educated at Clifton College where he was a member of Polacks....

 (1914-1991), 1st Baronet, a former Lord Mayor of London

Lord Mayor of London

The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

. She was educated at Cranbourne Chase School

Cranbourne Chase School

Cranborne Chase School for Girls was an independent boarding school originally opened in Crichel House in Moor Crichel, Dorset. In 1960, the school moved to the New Wardour Castle near Tisbury, Wiltshire....

 and the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, and earned her PhD in 1987 at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

. She joined the faculty of New York University in 1992. She was named a Collegiate Professor in 2008. She is a past senior fellow of the Research Center for Urban Cultural History at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

In addition to her books, she has published articles on Chinese law, politics, foreign relations, and culinary culture. She is a frequent presenter at academic seminars and symposia, such as at Yale University, Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, and Marymount Manhattan College

Marymount Manhattan College

Marymount Manhattan College is an urban, coeducational, independent, private, liberal arts college located in Manhattan, New York City, New York with a focus in performing arts. The mission of the College is to educate a socially and economically diverse student body by fostering intellectual...

, as well as appeared as expert on Chinese culinary history. She is quoted in mainstream press as an expert on Chinese military and cultural history.