After more than a year serving as Acting Interim Chair and then Interim Chair of the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, Yen-Hwei Lin has been appointed Chair of the Department. This four-year appointment is effective August 16, 2020, through August 15, 2024.  

A Professor of Linguistics, Lin served as Acting Interim Chair (November 5, 2018-2019) and Interim Chair (2019-2020) for the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages. Other roles served within the Department include Department Coordinator (2013-2015), Associate Chair (2000-2003 and 2006-2009), Director of Graduate Studies (1999-2003), and Coordinator of the Chinese Program (1989-1997). She also has been a Big 10 Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program Fellow. 

“Professor Yen-Hwei Lin has demonstrated outstanding leadership as Acting Interim Chair and throughout her tenure,” said Christopher P. Long, Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. “She brings a record of integrity and a demonstrated ability to build trust and collaboration within the Department and across the College. I am pleased to appoint her as Chair of the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages and look forward to continuing my work with her in this role.”

I treasure this opportunity to continue to fulfill the mission of the Department by serving as its chairperson and look forward to our collaboration in shaping the future of the Department.

DR. YEN-HWEI LIN

Among Lin’s many responsibilities as Department Chair include overseeing the academic operation of the Department, long-range and strategic planning for development of departmental programs, preparing and administering the budget, faculty and staff recruitment and annual reviews, and supervising course schedule preparations and teaching assignments.  

“It has been a wonderful experience working with colleagues in the Department and College in this interim capacity, and I have become ever more appreciative of the diverse and amazing work our faculty, students, and staff have performed,” Lin said. “I treasure this opportunity to continue to fulfill the mission of the Department by serving as its chairperson and look forward to our collaboration in shaping the future of the Department.”

Lin received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin and came to Michigan State University in 1989.  She currently serves as Co-Editor of Lingua Sinica and Associate Editor of Language and Linguistics.  Her research focuses on phonological theory and phonological patterns in Chinese languages, with additional interests in phonetics, sociolinguistics, and cognitive science. She has published widely in journals and book volumes and is the author of The Sounds of Chinese (Cambridge University Press 2007), and co-editor of Cambridge Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (Cambridge University Press, to appear).