William A. Stanton (traditional Chinese: 司徒文; born 1947) is an American retired career diplomat. Since his retirement from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2012, he has consecutively served as a professor in Taiwan at National Tsinghua University, National Taiwan University, National Yang Ming University which became National Yang Ming Jiao Tung University, and in 2021 as Chair Professor at National Chengchi University. Early life and education Born in 1947 to a mother of Armenian descent and a father of Irish and Italian descent, Stanton earned a B.A. magna cum laude from Fordham University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which he attended on a National Defense Education Act Fellowship. He also spent a year studying at Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg, Germany. Career Dr. Stanton served for 34 years as a U.S. diplomat, serving as consular and political officer at Embassy Beirut (1979-81), watch officer in the Department of State Operations Center (1981-82), staff assistant for the Assistant Secretary for Near East and South Asian Affairs (1982-83), Country Officer for Lebanon (1983-85), political officer in Embassy Beijing (1987-90), chief of internal political reporting (1989-90), political-military affairs officer in Embassy Islamabad (1991-93), Special Assistant for East Asia and Pacific Affairs for the Under Secretary for Political Affairs (1993-4), Deputy Director for the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs (1994-95), Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy Beijing (1995-98), Director of the Office of UN Political Affairs (1999-01), Director of the Office of Egyptian and North African Affairs (2001-03). While stationing at the Embassy Canberra, Australia, he served as the Deputy Chief of Mission (2003-05) and Chargé d’affaires ad interim (2005-06), then he was assigned to Embassy Seoul, Korea to take his post as DCM. His final posting was as Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (2009-2012). During his tenure, AIT achieved significant progress on a number of key bilateral issues, including Taiwan's entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, two major security assistance agreements, increased high-level visits by U.S. Government officials, and resolution of trade disputes, including the re-introduction of U.S. beef into Taiwan. For his contributions to U.S. exports to Taiwan, Dr. Stanton won the 2011 Charles E. Cobb Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development. For his overall contributions to U.S.-Taiwan relations, Taiwan awarded Dr. Stanton the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon. Dr. Stanton's