Carla Freeman, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Carla Freeman is Director of the SAIS Foreign Policy Institute at SAIS where she is concurrently Associate Director of the China Studies program and an Associate Research Professor. A second generation “China hand,” she has lived between the United States and Asia throughout her life. A specialist in Chinese international and domestic policy, including environmental and regional policy, she has advised corporations and government agencies.
Before coming to SAIS, she served as Program Officer for civil society and community development with an emphasis on sustainability at The Johnson Foundation. Prior to that, she was a political risk consultant with an Asia-wide portfolio that included China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam. In addition, she held several academic positions early in her academic career, including directing the global studies and international affairs program at Alverno College, and was a visiting scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She was also a Peace Scholar with the United States Institute of Peace. In addition, more recently, she has been a visiting fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a visiting scholar at Harvard's Fairbank Center.
She completed her B.A. in Southeast Asia and History at Yale University, a certificate in Chinese language studies at Beijing Foreign Languages University, and a certificate in political science from Sciences Po in Paris. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. from SAIS, writing her dissertation on the political economy of reform in China and the challenges posed to its heavily industrialized Northeast region.
Current projects include a book with a working title China and the Global Commons, and edited volumes on China and developing countries; China's international relations; and Chinese perspectives on North Korea. Recent publications include a collaborative study of China's carbon market development and several pieces on China's international relations.