Edward T. Chang is Professor of Ethnic Studies and founding Director of the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies at the University of California at Riverside. He earned his B.A. (1982) in Sociology and Ph.D. (1990) in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley and M.A. (1984) in Asian American Studies at UCLA.

Chang is author of eight books, seven edited volumes, and numerous articles. His latest book is the Korean translation of Lonesome Journey published by Korea University Press in 2016. Chang co-authored Korean American Pioneer Aviators: The Willows Airmen and the Korean book titled 1920, Opening the Skies of Korea (2013). He also translated the Korean book Unsung Hero: The Story of Col. Young Oak Kim (2011) into English which was published by the YOK Center at UC Riverside. He is author of ‘Ethnic Peace in the American City: Community Building in Los Angeles and Beyond,’ (with Jeannette Diaz-Veizades), New York University Press (1999) and ‘Following the Footsteps of Korean Americans,’ “Asian American,” and ‘Who African Americans Are.”

He has been a visiting professor at Hanyang University, Inha University, Sogang University, and Korea University. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, Korea Daily, and the Korea Times, and his commentary has aired on KBS radio and Radio Korea. His publications have been translated into Korean and Japanese.

Professor Chang has studied and been a voice of the Korean community for more than 25 years. He is a leading expert on the Los Angeles Riots, race relations between Korean and African American communities, and Korean Americans. Professor Chang lectured on the topics of Korean-African American Relations and the Los Angeles civil unrest and its impact on the Korean American community at many universities around the country. Chang was quoted widely in the press on issues relating to the LA civil unrest and their aftermath. He served as a field reporter and consultant for LA is Burning: Five Reports from a Divided City, a PBS Frontline special program on the unrest.

Since then, Chang’s continued research and speaking on matters relating to building peace in interethnic communities has shown that his interest in this subject goes far beyond one of crisis management and beyond the issues of one urban neighborhood. He has also continued his efforts to motivate the mainstream media to portray race relations in America as an issue that is larger and more complex than simply black and white.

Professor Chang received the ‘President’s Award’ from the President of the Republic of Korea for his efforts leading a national campaign to gain support and raise funds for the development and institutionalization of an achievement test (SAT II) on the Korean language for high school students seeking college admission in 1995.

Chang also received numerous awards including the ‘John Anson Ford Award’ from the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission (1995), an ‘Education Award’ from the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA (1995), the ‘Global Korea Award’ from Michigan State University (1995), and the ‘Distinguished Korean American Award’ from SUNY at Stony Brook.