Joan Brzezinski named executive director of the University of Minnesota’s China Center and Confucius Institute

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Published on Tuesday, 10 April 2012 10:33

Joan Brzezinski has been named executive director of the University’s China Center and Confucius Institute. Joan has been the interim director of the China Center while serving in her permanent position as director of the Confucius Institute. In this new position as executive director, she will oversee all projects and programming within both the China Center and Confucius Institute, including fundraising for China initiatives and identifying opportunities to expand the University system's relationships in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Joan joined the China Center at the University of Minnesota in 1997 and was promoted to assistant director in 2003. In 2006, she coordinated the University’s efforts to establish a Confucius Institute, becoming its first director in 2008. Joan has experience working in China and the United States in a variety of positions in tourism, travel marketing, and operations, and as a business consultant to companies working in China. She currently serves on the advisory committee for the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA), as a board member of the US-China Peoples Friendship Association Minnesota Chapter, and as an adviser for the US-China Healthcare Information Exchange (USCHIE). Joan graduated from Hamline University with a bachelor’s degree in East Asian history and a Master of International Management degree from the University of St. Thomas.

About the University of Minnesota’s China Center:
The China Center was established in 1979 to manage the University of Minnesota's exchanges with the People's Republic of China. For more than three decades, the China Center has reflected the firm and long-standing commitment of the University to international research, teaching and outreach. http://chinacenter.umn.edu.