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. 

Joshua Shen

Joshua Shen joined the Foreign Service in 2008 and has served in Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and most recently as the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Surabaya, Indonesia. He has also served in two assignments in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) in Washington, D.C., where he led efforts to bring innovation to cultural diplomacy by leveraging American strengths in sports, video games, and VR/AR technologies.

Shen studied at East Los Angeles Community College and holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University (Journalism and English Literature) and a master’s degree in Foreign Policy from Georgetown University. In 2022, he received the State Department’s Edward J. Perkins Award for Outstanding Leadership in Diversity and Inclusion.

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).