Clayton Dube is the Associate Director of the USC U.S.-China Institute, which aims to enhance understanding of the 21st century’s definitive and multidimensional relationship through cutting-edge social science research, innovative graduate and undergraduate training, extensive and influential public events, and professional development efforts.

He was previously the UCLA Asia Institute’s Assistant Director. During his tenure there, he headed the Asian studies teacher training program and oversaw a variety of instructional, research, and outreach initiatives. Among the projects he directed were two student-driven web publications, AsiaMedia and Asia Pacific Arts, each of which now has more than one million readers annually. He's produced one documentary and consulted on several others.

His research has focused on how economic and political change in China since 1900 affected the lives of people in small towns. He has taught Asian and world history at several colleges and has written teaching guides on Chinese history. He served as associate editor for Modern China, an academic quarterly published by Sage Publications, from 1998 to 2002. Dube first visited China in 1982, living and working there for three years. He has since returned many times to carry out fieldwork and to lead study tours. He serves on the advisory board for the local Confucius Institute.