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Joseph Orser

Professional portrait of Joseph Orser
  • Associate Director
  • Ronald McNair Program

After having started teaching at UWEC in 2010, Joe Orser is excited to begin a new journey in the McNair Scholars Program. Dr. Orser is trained as a historian with specializations in Asian American history and the U.S. experience in Southeast Asia. He has also led student groups on international immersion experiences related to Hmong studies in Thailand and China. Before teaching in higher education, he worked as a journalist in Bangkok and Florida.

At UWEC, Dr. Orser has developed a passion for helping undergraduates to cultivate and articulate the transformative skills developed through experiential learning opportunities such as research, and to use these skills to achieve their academic and professional goals. He strives to empower students with the knowledge and resources necessary to explore, learn, and succeed in their unique paths in college and beyond. If you want to talk about anything related to undergraduate research, graduate education, or the McNair Scholars Program, stop by and say hello!


Teaching Interests
  • Research Methods
  • Asian American History
Research and Creative Activities
  • Asian American history
  • U.S. experience in Southeast Asia
  • mixed-race identity and representation
Education
  • Ph.D., M.A. (History), Ohio State University, 2010, 2007
  • M.Ed. (Foundations of Education), University of Florida, 1998
  • B.A. (History), University of Virginia, 1993
Published Research

Orser, Joseph Andrew. The Lives of Chang and Eng: Siam’s Twins in Nineteenth-Century America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014.