OREANDA-NEWS. August 18, 2016. David Yoo, director of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA, has been appointed vice provost of the Institute of American Cultures, effective Sept. 1, UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh announced today. Professor Yoo will succeed M. Belinda Tucker, who has served as the institute’s inaugural vice provost since 2011. Since his arrival at UCLA in 2010, Yoo has served as professor of Asian American studies. He is currently a member of the Academic Senate Committee on Development and a university-wide committee on community engagement.

In addition, he serves on executive committees for the Institute of American Cultures and the University of California Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Multicampus Research Program.

Previously, professor Yoo served on the faculties of Claremont McKenna College, where he was chair of the history department (2001-04) and at the Claremont Colleges, where he served as chair of the Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies (2000-03 and 2008-09).

A social historian with a focus on the United States, professor Yoo has authored or edited seven books, including “Contentious Spirits: Religion in Korean American History, 1903-1945,” as well as numerous journal articles, most recently serving as lead editor of The Oxford Handbook of Asian American History.

Yoo has been a Senior Fulbright Scholar (Korea) and received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, Huntington Library, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation. He is currently a member of the standing committee on ethnic studies for the American Studies Association and a series editor for the University of Illinois Press and the University of Hawaii Press. Professor Yoo has also been active in the community, serving on the boards of the Little Tokyo Service Center and the Korean American Scholarship Foundation.

Professor Yoo received a B.A. magna cum laude in political science from Claremont McKenna College, an M.Div. from Princeton Seminary, and M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in American studies and history from Yale University.

“Chancellor Block and I are confident that the Institute of American Cultures will continue to thrive under David’s capable leadership,” said Waugh, who thanked Tucker for her distinguished service.