Amb. Julia Chang Bloch

Julia Chang Bloch is Ambassador-in-Residence at the University of Maryland, College Park, Institute of Global Chinese Affairs. She is also the Starr Senior Fellow for US-China Relations, concurrently serving as Visiting Professor and Executive Vice Chairman of the American Studies Center at Peking University in Beijing, China, as well as Distinguished Adviser of the School of International and Public Affairs and Visiting Professor at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

From 1996 to 1998, Ambassador Bloch was President and CEO of the United States-Japan Foundation. From 1993 to 1996, she was Group Executive Vice President at Bank of America. Ambassador Bloch has had an extensive career in international affairs, beginning as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sabah, Malaysia, in 1964, and culminating as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Nepal in 1989, becoming the first Asian American to hold such rank in U.S. history.

From 1981 to 1988, Ambassador Bloch served at the U.S. Agency for International Development as Assistant Administrator for Food for Peace and Voluntary Assistance and as Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near East, positions appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. She also was the Chief Minority Counsel to a Senate Select Committee; a Senate professional staff member; the Deputy Director of the Office of African Affairs at the U.S. Information Agency; a Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and an Associate of the U.S. - Japan Relations Program of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard.