Joe Dennis is a Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a Ph.D. and J.D. from University of Minnesota. He is an historian of late imperial China, especially the Ming (1368-1644). His research and teaching focus on Chinese social, legal, and book history. He is currently researching the history of legal education, schools, and libraries in imperial China. 　 In connection with this research, he has worked with the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science to create the Books in China Database, a web-based research tool for visualizing chronological and spatial distribution of books in late imperial and Republican China( Books in China Database). His main courses include Survey of East Asian History, History of Late Imperial China, History of Chinese Print Culture, Chinese Law and Society, etc. His representative work is “Writing, Publishing, and Reading Local Gazetteers in Imperial China, 1100-1700”. His analysis of how gazetteers were initiated and produced reconceptualizes the geography of imperial Chinese publishing. He also creates the first substantial data set on publishing costs in early modern China—a foundational breakthrough in understanding the world of Chinese books. His publications include “Legal Education and the Circulation of Legal Texts in Ming and Early-Qing Gansu.”, “Financial Aspects of Publishing Local Histories in the Ming Dynasty.”, “Why Did Ming Dynasty Grand Secretary Li Ben Change His Surname After He Retired?”, “Data Collection Practices for Compiling Confucian School Library Book Lists in Ming and Qing Local Gazetteers.” ，“The Role of Donations in Building Local School Book Collections in the Ming Dynasty.” ，etc. Professor Dennis is a former president of the Society for Ming Studies, and former Director of Graduate Studies for the University of Wisconsin Department of History.