Janelle Wong

Janelle Wong is a Professor in the Departments of American Studies and Government and Politics at the University of Maryland. Wong’s research is on race, immigration, and political mobilization. As a scholar and teacher, Wong has worked closely with social service, labor, civil rights, and media organizations that serve the Asian American population. Wong has served as an amicus curiae on six legal briefs—including as co-author on social science briefs filed in support of the respondents in Shelby County v. Holder and SFFA v. Harvard. She has published numerous op-eds and commentaries examining affirmative action, racial equity, and patterns in Asian American public opinion and political behavior. Wong is author of Immigrants, Evangelicals and Politics in an Era of Demographic Change, Democracy’s Promise: Immigrants and American Civic Institutions, and co-author of two books on Asian American politics, including Asian American Political Participation: Emerging Constituents and their Political Identities. She has received research funding from the Russell Sage Foundation, Spencer Foundation, & National Science Foundation. Wong received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Yale University. Prior to joining the University of Maryland in 2012, she was at the University of Southern California in the Departments of Political Science and American Studies and Ethnicity.