UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An assistant professor of media studies in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State has earned a 2024 Luce/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Early Career Fellowship in China Studies — an award that supports research by recent Ph.D.s without tenure as they work on a scholarly project.

Sara Liao was recognized as one of six emerging scholars to receive a flexible fellowship for research on China’s societies, histories, cultures, geopolitics, art, and global impact. Her project explores feminist activism and gender politics in the #MeToo movement and the post-MeToo environment in China situating feminism in the increasingly commercialized, controlled and digitized media ecosystem in China.

“ACLS and the Henry Luce Foundation have partnered to advance the understanding of China for 40 years,” said Deena Ragavan, ACLS director of international programs. “We are excited to continue our re-envisioned Program in China Studies, which prioritizes supporting a wide diversity of scholars, institutions, and research topics. ACLS is proud to support the outstanding 2024 Early Career Fellows, whose research will help provide a critical, nuanced understanding of China’s past and present.”

This program is made possible by a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and is administered by ACLS, the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. Additional long-term fellowships are made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.