Stephen G. Craft

Title
Professor and Chair
Email
Department
Security Studies and International Affairs Dept
College
College of Arts & Sciences

Office Hours

M-W 10-12, 1:30-3:00

Areas of Expertise

U.S. China Relations; the U.S. and Taiwan
Stephen G. Craft
  • Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • M.A. - Master of Arts in History, Ohio University-Main Campus
  • LCH 499: Spec Topics Chinese Language
  • SS 499: Special Topics Social Science
  • SS 311: U.S Military History 1775-1900

World History, Modern Chinese History, U.S. Military History, US-Asian Relations, American Aviation History, American Foreign Policy

Study Abroad, Italy, 2009

Study Abroad, China, 2011

Project GO, Taiwan, 2022-2024

Books:

American Justice in Taiwan: The 1957 Riots and Cold War Foreign Policy (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2016)

Embry-Riddle at War: Aviation Training During World War II (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009)

V.K. Wellington Koo and the Emergence of Modern China (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2004)


Recently Published Articles/Book Chapters​

“China’s Counterinsurgency Strategy and Tactics: Using the Distant and Recent Past to Project the Future.” In Competing for Advantage: The Chinese Communist Party, Statecraft, and Special Operations Forces.  Dave Ellis, ed. (Tampa: Joint Special Operations University, February 2024): 201-234.

V. K. Wellington Koo, in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2020-03-26. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.11455.

“Deadly Catch: Shrimp Boat Captains as United States Naval Intelligence Informants, 1942-1945,” Intelligence And National Security Journal 32:4 (2017): 494-505.


Stephen Craft was born and raised in Covington, Virginia. During high school, he became interested in photography, and worked for three years as a photographer for the school yearbook and as a stringer for a local newspaper. After graduation, he worked for over a year with the Covington Pioneer as a photographer and darkroom technician. From 1985-86, he took a year out of college to do an internship in Taiwan where he taught English and worked with an orphanage.  Dr. Craft's experience abroad increased his interest in history especially U.S. Foreign Policy and U.S. relations with Asia. From 1987-1990, he attended Ohio University where he pursued an M.A. in History, with a focus on East Asian History and U.S. History. On the side, he worked for three years with Good Works, Inc., a homeless shelter. In 1990, he began pursuing a Ph.D. in History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he focused on International History (European & US diplomatic history). From 1993-1998, Dr. Craft lived in Taiwan where he did dissertation research, and taught history and political science as well as English part-time at Tunghai University. In 1997, upon completion of the Ph.D., he taught for a year at Wen-Tsao University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In 1998-99, Dr. Craft taught East Asian history at Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana before coming to ERAU in January 2000. He is currently chair of the department of Security Studies & International Affairs.