Vida Vanchan headshot

Vida Vanchan

Director/Professor Buckham Hall A120
Phone: (716) 878-5209
Email: vanchav@buffalostate.edu

Vida Vanchan, Ph.D., is professor of Geosciences and Political Science, Public Administration, and Planning at State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo State University. She holds a doctorate degree in International Economic and Business Geographies and a master’s degree in International Trade from the University at Buffalo as well as a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the Metropolitan State University of Denver. Dr. Vanchan’s research focuses on economic and social development; competitiveness and strategies; sustainability, global supply chains, manufacturing and reshoring; trade and investments (FDIs); cross-cultural management and negotiation; Southeast Asia, and emerging economies.

She is an author of The competitive characteristics of U.S. industrial design firms (2009), a co-editor of the Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the World Economy (2015), and Ordinary cities, Extraordinary Geographies: People, Place and Space (2021). She has authored numerous articles and book chapters. She has also authored several technical reports and professional editor-reviewed blogs.

Dr. Vanchan has also worked on educational development and capacity building projects in Cambodia for many years. She has given numerous national and international lectures and workshops. She founded Southeast Asia Week (SEA) and has organized this annual event on Buffalo State campus since 2012. The SEA Week events aim to provide useful and crucial information in enhancing knowledge of the region as well as fostering interactions and connections with Southeast Asian people and countries. Dr. Vanchan has also joined the Southeast Asia Faculty Associates in Research (FAR) Program at Cornell University since 2019. This program aims to forge collaborative relationships with Southeast Asian specialists at educational institutions throughout New York and northern Pennsylvania. She has also been a member of The New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN) since 2021.

Dr. Vanchan is one of the lead faculty members of The SUNY/CUNY Southeast Asia Consortium (SEAC). Funded by a $550,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation Initiative on Southeast Asia, SUNY/CUNY SEAC is a statewide consortium designed to promote research, teaching, and related efforts around Southeast Asia and Southeast Asian Americans in New York’s public universities. This grant helps establish a Southeast Asian studies network spanning all schools in the SUNY and CUNY systems. Among our activities will be an interdisciplinary Southeast Asia-related course each year, open to all SUNY and CUNY students, on an annual theme; a workshop and field school held in Southeast Asia on that theme; a speaker series; grants for research, language training, and publications; and more.

Dr. Vanchan has also worked in both public and private sectors. Recently, she worked with a local non-profit organization which offers a number of community programs to help underserved and marginalized communities of Buffalo, including immigrants and refugees. She helped the staff members to develop a survey instrument to measure the effectiveness of client services in its drop-in center, to assess its operations and processes in the future. She also surveyed the staff members about their thoughts on social justice and how the organization contributes to social justice efforts in Buffalo.


Selected publications

Vanchan, V. (Forthcoming) Global Economy: Geographies of Production during Crises. In Johns, J. and Marie Hall, S (Ed), Contemporary Economic Geographies: Inspiring, Critical and Diverse Perspectives (Bristol University Press)

Vanchan, V. (2021) An Ordinary but Extraordinary City, Siem Reap Angkor, Cambodia. In Bryson, J. R., R. V. Kalafsky., and V. Vanchan (Ed), Ordinary Cities, Extraordinary Geographies: People, Place and Space (Edward Elgar Publishing, UK).

Vanchan, V. (2021) Global Pandemic Disruptions, Reconfiguration and Glocalization of Production Networks. In Bryson, J.R., Andres, L, Ersoy, A. and Reardon, L. (Ed) (2021), Living with Pandemics: Places, People and Policy (Edward Elgar Publishing, UK).

Bryson, J.R., Kalafsky, R.V., and Vanchan, V. (2021) Ordinary Cities, Extraordinary Geographies: People, Place and Space. Edward Elgar Publishing, UK.        

Bryson, J.R., Vanchan, V. and Zhou, S. (2021) Reshoring and Rightshoring versus Offshoring and the Reduction of Risk in Global Supply Chains and Production Networks. In Berry, C., Froud, J. and Baker, T. The Political Economy of Industrial Strategy in the UK (Agenda Publishing Limited).

Bryson, J. and Vanchan, V. (2020), 'Covid-19 and Alternative Conceptualisations of Value and Risk in GPN Research', Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 111 (3): 530-542.

Vanchan, V., Mulhall, R., and Bryson, J.R. (2018) Repatriation or Reshoring of Manufacturing to the U.S. and UK: Dynamics and Global Production Networks or From Here to There and Back Again. Growth and Change, 49(1): 97-121

Bryson, J.R., Clark, J., and Vanchan, V. (2015) Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the
World Economy. Edward Elgar Publishing, UK.

Vanchan, V. (2015) Competitive Advantages of Design-Driven Manufacturing. Regions, 297(1), 10-11.

Vanchan, V. (2012) Review of Economic Geography: Places, Networks and Flows By Andrew Wood and Susan Roberts, Routledge, 2011. Economic Geography, 88(4): 457-458.

MacPherson, A. and Vanchan, V. (2010) Locational patterns and competitive characteristics of industrial design firms in the United States. In Rusten, G. and J.R. Bryson (Ed), Industrial Design, Competition, and Globalization (Palgrave MacMillan, UK).

MacPherson, A. and Vanchan, V. (2010) The outsourcing of industrial design by large U.S. manufacturing companies: an exploratory studyInternational Regional Science Review, 33(1): 3-30.

Irvine, K., Murphy, T., Vanchan, V., and Vermette, S (2010, eds) Water Resources and Development in Southeast Asia, US: Pearson Learning Solutions, a Pearson Education Company.

Vanchan, V. (2009) The competitive characteristics of U.S. industrial design firmsVDM Publishing Company, Germany. ISBN# 978-3-639-16086-4.

Vanchan, V. and MacPherson, A. (2008) The competitive characteristics of US firms in the industrial design sector: empirical evidence from a national survey. Competition and Change,
12(3): 262-280.

Vanchan, V. and MacPherson, A. (2008) The recent growth performance of U.S. firms in the industrial design sector: an exploratory studyIndustry and Innovation, 15(1): 1-17.

Vanchan, V. (2007) Communication and relationships between industrial design companies and their customersThe Industrial Geographer, 4(2): 28-46.

MacPherson, A., McConnell, J.E., Vance, A. and Vanchan, V. (2006) The impact of US government anti-terrorism policies on Canada-US cross-border commerce: an exploratory study from western New York and Southern OntarioProfessional Geographer, 58(3): 266-277.

Selected conference presentations and published abstracts

Vanchan, V. and McCartney, S. (2023) Sustainability for What and Whom? 12th Annual Southeast Asia Week, March 24, 2023.

Vanchan, V. (2023) Cambodia and Southeast Asia Week. Innovation Creativity and Entrepreneurship Council Meeting, March 9, 2023.

Vanchan, V. (2022) Global Economy and Geographies of Production during Crises. Think Tank 2022 Public Lecture Series Webinar. Sponsored by Asian Vision Institute.

Vanchan, V. (2022) How to Conduct Scientific Research and Develop Papers for Publication in Academic Journals. PhD Program in Education, Faculty of Education, Royal University of Phnom Penh. May 29, 2022. (Invited)

Vanchan, V., McGovern, P., and Yacobucci, P. (2022) Panel Discussion on Governance, Politics of Covid-19 and Race. Eleventh Annual Southeast Asia Week, March 22, 2022.

Vanchan. V. (2021) Challenges and Opportunities of Researching and Teaching about Southeast

Asia at SUNY and CUNY institutions, New York Southeast Asia Network Public Universities

Consortium Inaugural Conference. Faculty Panel, April 29, 2021. (Invited)

Vanchan, V. and Soni, S. (2021) Microenterprises and Poverty Reduction:
Case Studies from India and Cambodia. Tenth Annual Southeast Asia Week, March 22-26, 2021. 

Vanchan, V. and Bryson, J. R. (2020) Covid 19 Impact on American Trade and Global Value Chains: Risks, Strategies and Future. Webinar, September 17, 2020.

Vanchan, V., Ceesay, A., Baek, K., and McGovern, P. (2019) Panel Discussion on Democracy and The State of Politics Around the World. Eight Annual Southeast Asia Week, March 13, 2019.

Vanchan, V. (2018) Modular Theory-Building, Dynamics and Global Production networks: Mapping Reshoring Activities in the United States. 2018 Annual Meeting of Association of American Geographers, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 10-14, 2018.

Vanchan, V. and Soni, S. (2017) Regional Territorial Disputes and Conflicts. Conflicts and Resolutions: Understanding and Living in Global Communities. Sixth Annual Southeast Asia Week, March 14-17, 2017. 

Vanchan, V., Mulhall, R., and Bryson, J.R. (2016) "New" Global Geographies of Manufacturing: From Here to There and Back Again. 2016 Annual Meeting of Association of American Geographers, San Francisco, California, March 29 – April 2, 2016.