Visiting Scholars and Diplomats

Diplomat in Residence

The public diplomacy program and the Center on Public Diplomacy are fortunate to host a U.S. Foreign Service public diplomacy officer for a two-year fellowship. While in residence at the Center, the U.S. Public Diplomat in Residence teaches at least one course in the USC Master of Public Diplomacy program and engages in individualized program research and writing for the Center’s publication series as well as outreach to students and the academic community on matters related to public diplomacy. 

Matthew Asada

Matthew Asada joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 2003. He served as a Foreign Service Officer in border posts in Afghanistan, Germany, India, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. He most recently served as Deputy Commissioner General of the USA Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, which was the first World’s Fair held in the Middle East and the Department of State’s largest public diplomacy project of the year.

He holds a master’s degree in European Politics and Policy from the London School of Economics, a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and German from the University of Pennsylvania. He also studied at the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies as an American Political Science Association congressional fellow and at the Free University in Berlin. 

Visiting Scholar

Raymond Mar

Canada-U.S. Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in PD, Professor, York University

Dr. Mar received his PhD from the University of Toronto and is currently a full professor of psychology at York University. He received the Tom Trabasso Young Investigator Award from the Society for Text and Discourse, and the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. His lab investigates how imagined experiences affect how we think, feel, and behave in the real world, with a particular focus on how stories engage our imagination. This includes novels, television, video games, and other forms of narrative. His proposed research while at USC will examine whether Canadian television acts as a form of cultural diplomacy, shaping the perceptions of Canada held by Americans. Dr. Mar also has an active interest in how to best teach research methods and statistics, having authored a methods textbook and created a set of tutorials to teach R (remindery.info.yorku.ca). While at USC, he is looking forward to connecting with faculty and graduate students who share similar interests.

Visiting Researchers

The Master of Public Diplomacy program regularly hosts visiting faculty and researchers from around the world. Previous visitors include Dean and Professor Xiao Hua Feng (Nanchang Hangkong University, China), Fulbright Shuman scholar Agnieszka Lisowska (Spain/Poland), Guo Wei (Shanxi University, China).