Elizabeth Van Wie Davis

Elizabeth Van Wie Davis (born 1958) is an American academic specializing in international affairs.

Education Davis received her BA in Liberal Arts from Shimer College. She obtained her Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia in 1985. Her dissertation was a study of East Asian maritime law, titled Oceans Policy: A New Search for Cooperation.

Career Davis has worked at Mary Baldwin College, Illinois State University, Johns Hopkins University's SAIS Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China, and the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, a U.S. Department of Defense academic institute.

After serving as the Director of the Liberal Arts and International Studies Department at the Colorado School of Mines, in 2014, she accepted the position of Vice Dean for Research at Nazarbayev University, which she held for one year. Afterwards, she returned to the Colorado School of Mines as a Professor.

Dr. Davis took a break from academia after 17 years to work for the US government on Asia issues, focusing on preventive diplomacy, including briefing U.S. senators and congressmen, top U.S. military officers, and foreign government leaders on China and Asia-related subjects.