Ezra F. Vogel is the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan in 1950 and serving two years in the U.S. Army, he studied sociology in the Department of Social Relations at Harvard, receiving his Ph.D. in 1958.
Vogel succeeded John Fairbank to become the second Director of Harvard's East Asian Research Center and Chairman of the Council for East Asian Studies. He spent a number of years working in U.S.-Japan relations and later leading undergraduate work in East Asian Studies.
Vogel went on to serve as Director of the Fairbank Center and the first Director of the Asia Center. Vogel was Chairman of the Harvard Committee to Welcome President Jiang Zemin and also served as Co-director of the Asia Foundation Task Force on East Asian Policy Recommendations for the New Administration.