Joann Faung Jean Lee

Joann Faung Jean Lee, Ph.D. is author of Asian Americans in the Twenty-First Century (New Press, 2008). This marks her third book of oral histories on Asians in America. She has written and lectured extensively on the Asian American experience and Asians and media.

She has been a journalism educator for over two decades. She is currently Professor and Chairperson of the Communication Department at William Paterson University. She has served as Dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno. At Queens College, City University of New York, she established and directed the journalism program and created the T.W. Wang Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Chinese American Issues, a national journalism award sponsored by the World Journal. She was also a faculty member of the Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University.

As a journalist, Dr. Lee was the first Asian American reporter hired by CNN, as well as its first New York Correspondent, covering Wall Street, the United Nations, and the court system. She was also the first Asian American television reporter to be hired for ABC and CBS local affiliate stations in Sacramento, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Her other books include Asian American Actors (McFarland, 2000), and Asian Americans (New Press, 1992).