About the Course Director

Asian Studies Program at
Bowling Green State University

Southeast Asia Studies at
Ohio University

Benjamin N Muego is Professor of Political Science and Asian Studies and former Chair of the Faculty Senate at Bowling Green State University (1993-94; 2002-03). He is also Adjunct Professor of Southeast Asia Studies at Ohio University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies (1984-present); Adjunct Professor of Southeast Asia Studies at the School of Area and Professional Studies of the US Foreign Service Institute (1982-present) which honored him with its Distinguished Adjunct Faculty Award in 1998; and Adjunct Professor of Security Assistance Management at the US Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management (2000-present). In October 2003, Professor Muego was honored by Bowling Green State University with its Distinguished Faculty Service Award.

Benjamin N Muego was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore ) in 1977-78 and an International Relations Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1990-91. A Fulbright Senior Scholar in Political Science, Professor Muego was Visiting Fulbright Professor of Political Science at the University of the Philippines-Visayas (UP College-Cebu) in 1986-87. Professor Muego has an AB, MA and PhD in Political Science from the University of the Philippines, Kansas State University and Southern Illinois University, respectively. Professor Muego is the author of the US State Department’s Self-Study Guide on the Philippines (2004), American Government: A Non-Visual Text for the MTV Generation, Second Edition (2005), Spectator Society: the Philippines Under Martial Rule (1988) and over three dozen book chapters, articles and book reviews on political and security issues pertaining to Southeast Asia. Professor Muego is a Fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society and is a life member of the Fulbright Association. In addition, Professor Muego is an active member of the American Political Science Association, Association for Asian Studies, Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity (Taft Senate), Pi Sigma Alpha (National Political Science Honor Society) and the Omicron Delta Kappa (National Leadership Honor Society).

Benjamin N Muego first traveled to Viet Nam in 1993 as part of a group of international affairs specialists under the aegis of the Citizen Ambassador Program, an organization dedicated to fostering international peace founded in 1956 by Dwight D Eisenhower. So far, Professor Muego has undertaken six separate field trips to Viet Nam since his first visit fourteen years ago (e.g., in 1995, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006).