Dr. Vallaurie Crawford has been appointed Visiting Professor at the Asian Center from 9 January to 9 February 2014. Since 2010 she has taught scientific writing and scholarly presentation skills to graduate students from 35 countries at Taipei Medical University, where shealso runs English publications, websites and public relations.

Her current research surveys public policies and enforcement regarding mobile noise pollution (vehicle-mounted public address systems) in the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan and India, and compares these with more restrictive policies in EU nations. She is a founding editor of a new journal on Asian health literacy, and is working with Taiwan and US EPA researchers to publicize findings on children’s exposure to toxins.

Val’sbackground includes 33 years of journalism, editing and freelance writing as a resident of the US, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan and the Netherlands. She worked for eight daily newspapers,including the Japan Times and Taipei Times, and served as press editor for United Nations University in Tokyo and managing editor of the World Health Organization’s monthly WHO Bulletin.

A 1984 Press Foundation of Asia/Depth news internship in Manila convinced her to return in 1986 for dissertation research on the ilustrado tradition in journalism. The East-West Center supported her M.A. and Ph.D. studies in Political Science at the University of Hawaii.