The Fries Center Welcomes New Director, Masami Imai, After Six Years Under Stephen Angle

As we bid a grateful farewell to Dr. Steve Angle, the esteemed director of the Fries Center for Global Studies, we also extend a warm welcome to Dr. Masami Imai, who will be stepping into this pivotal role. This moment of transition provides an opportunity to reflect on Dr. Angle’s remarkable contributions and to look forward with excitement to the leadership Dr. Imai will bring.

Dr. Steve Angle

Stephen Angle, Director of the Fries Center for Global Studies (2018-2024)

Dr. Angle has been director of the Fries Center since 2018, making him the Center’s second director since its inception in 2015. Aside from his duties at the Fries Center, he is a philosophy professor, writer, and researcher, specializing in Chinese Philosophy, Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism, and comparative philosophy. His research focuses on philosophy’s role in human rights, politics, and ethics both in China and globally. His work is informed by an on-going exchange of ideas with colleagues in universities in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Germany, and France, and through his international philosophy blog, http://warpweftandway.com/. Fluent in Mandarin and in classical Chinese, Angle has spent Fulbright years in Taipei and in Beijing and was a Berggruen Fellow at Tsinghua University during the academic year 2016-17. Many of his books and essays have appeared in Chinese translation.

During his time at the FCGS, he led and advocated for many important initiatives, including the creation of the Language Data Project, establishing Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum courses, the Wesleyan and the World blog, and the Global Engagement Minor. The creation of the Global Wes Collaborative allowed him to streamline and further Wesleyan’s internationalization efforts by identifying and harnessing the many campus entities that also engage in this work. We at the FCGS wish him the best in his future endeavors, and are incredibly grateful for his years of dedication and service.

Dr. Masami Imai

Masami Imai, Director of the Fries Center for Global Studies (2024)

Masami Imai is Professor of Economics/East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT.  He teaches Money, Banking, and Financial Markets, Quantitative Methods in Economics, and Economy of Japan. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California-Davis and a B.A. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He received support from the Center for Financial Research at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2008 and was awarded the most significant paper published in 2012 in Journal of Financial Intermediation. He is a research fellow at Tokyo Center for Economics Research (TCER). His research focuses on banking and has been published in American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, Journal of Public Economics, and Journal of Urban Economics, and as well as other scholarly journals. In the spirit of global studies, when asked about the most unforgettable place he’s ever visited, he mentioned that for him it is the summit of Mt Fuji in Honshu, Japan. “The view was just fantastic. Of course, climbing up there with my wife and kids made it even more special.”

As he reflected upon starting at the Fries Center in the fall semester of 2024, Dr Imai said he is most excited about working alongside the staff members in the Fries Center during his appointment as Director. The Fries Center is equally thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Dr Imai, and we look forward to the insight and diversity of perspective that he will bring to the Center in these next three years.