A. Tom Grunfeld is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor at Empire State College of the State University of New York, specializing in the modern history of east Asia, particularly of China and Tibet.

He holds a B.A. from the State University of New York at Old Westbury

State University of New York at Old Westbury

The State University of New York College at Old Westbury is a university college that is part of the State University of New York system. The college is in Old Westbury, New York, with portions in the neighboring town of Jericho, New York...

 (1972), an M.A. in Chinese history from the School of Oriental and African Studies

School of Oriental and African Studies

The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...

 ( 1973) and a Ph.D. from New York University (1985). He has received numerous awards funding travel and research from institutions including the National Endowment for the Humanities

National Endowment for the Humanities

The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...

 ( 1984), the Research Foundation of City University of New York

City University of New York

The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...

 (1985) and the State University of New York and the Ford Foundation

Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....

 (1993). He has also been a Fulbright Senior Scholar. He is often asked to comment on current Chinese and Tibetan affairs for the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 and CNN International

CNN International

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. He was a member of the US–China Peoples Friendship Association, and a staff member and contributor to its journal New China.

Publications

• The Making of Modern Tibet, first edition: 1987, second: 1996
• On Her Own: Journalistic Adventures from the San Francisco Earthquake to the Chinese Revolution, 1917-1927, 1993
• The Vietnam War: A History in Documents (with Marilyn Young and John Fitzgerald), 2001