Susan L. Shirk is an American political scientist and China specialist currently serving as a research professor at University of California, San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy.

[2] Shirk received a BA in political science from Mount Holyoke College in 1967, a MA in Asian studies from UC Berkeley in 1968, and a PhD in political science from MIT in 1974.

[5] She first traveled to China in 1971 as a member of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars.

[6] Shirk is the Ho Miu Lam Endowed Chair of China and Pacific Relations in the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UCSD and Director of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.

She formerly directed the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, a track II diplomatic initiative.