Janelle Staci Wong is an American political scientist and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a Professor of American Studies, Government and Politics, and a core faculty member in the Asian American Studies Program, where she also serves as Director.
Early Life and Education
Wong was born and raised in Yuba City, California. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. She then completed her Master's degree and PhD at Yale University, receiving her doctorate in 2001 from the Department of Political Science.
Academic Career
After earning her PhD, Wong joined the faculty at the University of Southern California (USC) as an associate professor with a joint appointment in political science and American studies and ethnicity. She remained at USC until 2012, when she left to become the Director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. She currently holds professorships in both the Department of American Studies and the Department of Government and Politics.
Research and Publications
Wong's research focuses on race, immigration, and political mobilization. She is the author of several books:
- Democracy's Promise: Immigrants and American Civic Institutions (2006, University of Michigan Press)
- Asian American Political Participation: Emerging Constituents and their Political Identities (2011, Russell Sage Foundation; co-authored with Karthick Ramakrishnan, Taeku Lee, and Jane Junn) — based on the first nationally representative survey of Asian Americans' political attitudes and behavior, conducted in eight languages across six Asian national origin groups.
- Immigrants, Evangelicals and Politics in an Era of Demographic Change (2018, Russell Sage Foundation Press)
Wong was named a 2006 Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow in recognition of her work on how immigrants are changing the religious right. She collaborated on the 2016 National Asian American Survey, supported by a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant, studying the Asian American experience before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. She has also been a vocal advocate for race-conscious admissions, co-authoring amicus briefs supporting affirmative action in higher education.
Honors and Recognition
In 2024, Wong was elected to the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences as a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow. In 2026, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Political Science). Her research has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Irvine Foundation, and the Carnegie Foundation.
