Michelle King

Michelle T. King is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serving as Director of Departmental Culture and Climate and Associate Chair for Research. She holds a BA from Yale University (1995), an MA from Stanford University (2000), and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (2007). Her research focuses on modern Chinese gender history and food history, with notable works including Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu Pei-mei and the Making of Modern Chinese Food (2024) and Between Birth and Death: Female Infanticide in Nineteenth-Century China (2014). King has received prestigious awards such as the NEH Public Scholars Grant and ACLS Fellowship. She co-edits Modern Chinese Foodways (forthcoming MIT Press) and leads courses on Chinese history, gender studies, and food culture.

Her research explores intersections of gender, food, and nationalism, analyzing figures like Fu Pei-mei and Margaret Sanger to illuminate broader societal shifts. King’s work appears in journals like Journal of Women’s History and Global Food History, and she actively mentors graduate students in East Asian studies. She is currently on leave for Spring 2025.

• Education:
• PhD, History, UC Berkeley (2007)
• MA, History, Stanford University (2000)
• BA, Yale University (1995)

• Awards:
• NEH Public Scholars Grant (2024)
• ACLS Fellowship (2020)
• Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Fellowship
• Journal of Women’s History Best Article Prize (2017-18)

King advocates for departmental climate and research innovation, balancing scholarly output with institutional leadership. Her courses include Twentieth-Century China, Gender in Chinese History, and the Cultural History of Food in China.