John Noonan's interests lie in the areas of English language learning for the purposes of journalism, communications and various forms of mass media. In particular, he is interested in English language environmental writing, media ethics, visual media production and experiential learning. Prior to attending journalism school, Noonan obtained a TESOL certificate, and has taught ESL for over 20 years, from Istanbul, Turkey, to New York City.

His research focus is the comparative study of Islamic and Western political thought. His work has appeared in Journal of Religion, Perspectives on Political Science, American Political Thought, Iranian Studies, Interpretation, Review of Politics, Renaissance & Reformation, and Eurorient, as well as collected volumes. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include Islamic and Western political thought. His book (forthcoming with Cambridge University Press) is a comprehensive study of Leo Strauss's writings on Islamic political thought.

Her research is motivated by a desire to understand the political economy of South-South economic engagement, with a focus on China's foreign economic relations, Chinese foreign aid, foreign direct investment, and infrastructure contracts. More broadly, she is interested in combining quantitative and qualitative methods to understand how history influences contemporary political economy and international relations, and in how political and sociological factors affect prospects for economic development.

His research focuses on the intersection of religion and ecology in China. He has published six books including "China's Green Religion: Daoism and the Quest for a Sustainable Future" (Columbia, 2017). He is noted worldwide as an expert in Daoism, China's indigenous religion. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include ethics and leadership, global China studies, environmental science, U.S. studies, religious studies and philosophy. Miller has a B.A. (honors) in Chinese studies from Durham University, a B.A. (honors) and M.A.

Her primary focus in classroom instruction is to prepare students for real-life interaction with native speakers of Chinese. Her primary research interests include interactive instruction, comprehension-led learning, cross-cultural communication, teaching material development, and Chinese language teacher training. Miao has a M.A. in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages (TCSOL) from Northeast Normal University, China.

Her research is at the intersection of epistemology and moral philosophy with connections to psychology. In particular, she investigates how social and political factors, like social power and authority, can impact the way that people reason, and asks what we can do about it. Her teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include ethics and leadership, U.S. studies, philosophy and psychology. McWilliams has a B.A. (summa cum laude) in philosophy, linguistics and psychology from Tulane University and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University.

His research interests include distributive justice, environmental ethics, children's rights, and the philosophy of welfare economics. At Duke Kunshan, he teaches courses in ethics and at the intersection of economics and political philosophy. He has published papers in leading philosophy journals including Philosophy & Public Affairs, Journal of Medical Ethics, and the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he was a visiting assistant professor of philosophy and political science at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Her research encompasses the intersection of language learning and teaching, intercultural competence development, and perspective transformation, with a particular focus on international education. She is also investigating the effects of curriculum ideologies on glottophobia and epilinguistic behaviors, as well as Native American language revitalization. Mauldin-Chiocca has B.A.s in history and English and an M.A. in history from the University of Bordeaux Montaigne, France, and a Ph.D.