Carl F. Young is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Western University. He holds a PhD from the University of London (2004). His research focuses on religious social movements, nationalism, and imperialism in modern Asia, particularly in Korea and Japan. He has supervised Master's and Doctoral students and teaches courses such as HIST 2641G (Korea Since 1800), HIST 3609G (Japan since 1945), and HIST 4603F (Silk Roads and Spice Routes). His work explores topics like the Tonghak and Ch'ondogyo movements in Korea, comparative world history, and cross-cultural interactions. Notable publications include Eastern Learning and the Heavenly Way (2014) and articles in Extrême-Orient, Extrême-Occident and Journal of Korean Religions . He served as guest editor for a special issue on North Korea and Religion (2013). Teaching and Office Hours: Fall/Winter 2024-2025 office hours are Wednesdays 10:00-11:00 AM and Thursdays 11:00 AM-12:00 PM in Lawson Hall 2225.
Dr. Hyunjung Shin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Education. Her work focuses on applied linguistics, EAL education, and critical pedagogy. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto (2010) in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, with a specialization in Second Language Education. Her research explores topics such as transnational student experiences, neoliberalism in education, refugee language policies, and identity formation. Notable awards include the Government of Canada Post-doctoral Research Fellowship (2010-2011) and the BAAL International Scholarship (2010). Shin's publications challenge dominant narratives in language education, emphasizing critical perspectives on multilingualism and globalization. She has presented widely, including a TEDx talk on diversity in 2019. Her work integrates participatory action research and ethnographic methods to address systemic inequities.
Younghoon Kim serves as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Asian Studies within the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he contributes to research and teaching in Korean studies, translation, and contemporary media. His work bridges cultural analysis with critical examinations of television and film across Korean and American contexts. Educational Background: Ph.D. from University of Alberta (2011) M.A. from University of Alberta (2006) M.A. from Sogang University (2004) B.A. from Myong Ji University (2002) Dr. Kim's research centers on Korean popular culture and national identity formation, with particular focus on entrepreneurship narratives and self-help culture in contemporary Korea. He investigates contemporary American television dramas as cultural artifacts reflecting societal shifts, while also exploring translation practices and fashion as expressions of cultural identity. His interdisciplinary approach connects media studies with sociological and philosophical frameworks. His recent publications reveal consistent thematic threads examining neoliberal subjectivity through television analysis (including Breaking Bad and Mad Men), Korean youth cultural expressions, and cross-cultural literary adaptations. The scholarly output spans musicology, television studies, and translation theory, with significant contributions to understanding how media shapes identity in both Korean and global contexts. Journal publications demonstrate strong engagement with A&HCI-indexed and Korean Citation Index venues.
Yi Gu is an Associate Professor of modern and contemporary art and visual culture at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), with cross-appointments in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media and the Department of East Asian Studies. Her scholarly work centers on Asian visual culture, particularly China's artistic and photographic history from the early twentieth century to the present. Her research interests include cold war visual culture, post-socialist art, Chinese photography history, contemporary photography in Asia, mass art and amateurism, and visual methodologies across disciplines. Gu's work is driven by examining the political ambitions and social functions of art, as well as the politics of aesthetics. Her recent research has focused on aesthetic capitalism and digital surveillance in China, leading to studies of the Digital Countryside initiative and CCP aesthetics anchored in agrarian imaginary. Gu's publications reveal a consistent engagement with visual epistemology, particularly how Chinese artists and photographers have negotiated modernity, nation-building, and transnational influences. Her work spans from early twentieth-century open-air painting practices to contemporary digital visual culture, demonstrating how visual practices serve as critical sites for understanding China's social and political transformations. As co-editor of the open-access academic journal Trans Asia Photography and convening member of the research project 'Alternative Collections and Digital Humanities: Twentieth-Century Chinese Art and Visual Culture,' Gu actively contributes to expanding the field of Asian visual studies through collaborative scholarly initiatives. At UTSC, Gu teaches undergraduate courses on modern and contemporary Asian art, lens-based media in Asia, public art, and art and digital culture. Her scholarly approach combines art historical methods with visual culture studies, media theory, and cross-disciplinary perspectives to examine how visual practices shape and are shaped by political and social contexts in China and beyond.
Jonathan F. Vance is a distinguished academic and historian at Western University, serving as the Distinguished University Professor and J.B. Smallman Chair in the Department of History. His research focuses on military history, Canadian history, and social memory, particularly regarding the First and Second World Wars, prisoners of war, and commemoration practices. He has authored numerous books and chapters, including The True Story of the Great Escape and Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning and the First World War . He holds a PhD from York University (1993) and has received prestigious awards such as the Charles P. Stacey Prize, Floyd S. Chalmers Award, and membership in the Royal Society of Canada. His research is supported by the Ley and Lois Smith War, Memory, and Popular Culture Research Collection, a key resource for studies on war and society. Teaching includes courses like HIST 1810E - Wars that Changed the World and supervises graduate students at both master’s and doctoral levels. His work bridges historical analysis with cultural studies, examining how societies remember and represent conflict.
Keir Moulton is an Associate Professor and Graduate Chair in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto. He holds a PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a BA (Honors) from the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the syntax-semantics interface, experimental linguistics, and formal approaches to clause structure and anaphora. He has conducted extensive experimental work on pronoun resolution, ellipsis, and binding theory, with a particular interest in exploring how structural constraints influence language processing. His academic career includes roles as co-editor of NELS 34 and contributions to major linguistics conferences such as SALT and WCCFL. Moulton's recent work examines topics like underspecified pronoun interpretation, Korean VP anaphora, and the cognitive processing of syntactic structures. His methodologies blend formal theoretical analysis with experimental techniques, including eye-tracking studies and acceptability judgments. Key research areas include: experimental syntax-semantics interaction, binding theory, ellipsis resolution, and the typology of clausal complementation. He has published over 50 articles in journals like Language , Linguistic Inquiry , and Journal of Cognitive Science , as well as book chapters and edited volumes. Moulton’s work has been supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. His teaching focuses on graduate courses in syntax, semantics, and experimental methods.
Jesook Song is a Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto. She serves as Department Chair and Graduate Chair (Tri-Campus), focusing on sociocultural anthropology, contemporary urban transformation, and welfare issues including homelessness, youth unemployment, and single women's housing in East Asia, particularly South Korea. PhD in Cultural Anthropology (2003), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign B.A. in Education Science, Yonsei University Her research examines neoliberal capitalism's impact on welfare systems, labor practices, and gendered experiences in urban South Korea. Key themes include: Financial techniques in everyday life Post-development welfare states Gendered care work in public policy Homelessness and urban marginality Single women's spatial autonomy Recent publications analyze pandemic-era welfare policies, financial subjectivity, and urban marginality. Her books include Living on Your Own (2014) and On the Margins of Urban South Korea (2019). American Anthropological Association Sylvia H. Forman Prize (2002) Academy of Korean Studies Distinguished Paper Award (2010) She has advised graduate students Sophia Jaworski, Celeste Pang, and Kristina Alda, while securing multiple grants from SSHRC, Korea Foundation, and Academy of Korean Studies for research on financial techniques in everyday life and welfare systems.
Mai Ha Vu is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga , split between the Department of Language Studies and the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics . Her work bridges theoretical linguistics, computational methods, and biological data modeling. Ph.D. in Linguistics, University of Delaware (2020) M.A. in Linguistics, University of Delaware (2014) B.A. in Psychology and Linguistics, Grinnell College (2013) Research focuses on applying formal language theory to understand human language patterns and train biologically reliable language models . Recent work includes antibody language modeling (Nature Computational Sciences 2022) and syntax-prosody mapping via logical transductions (SIGMORPHON 2022). Key research trends in publications: interdisciplinary applications of computational linguistics to immunology, psycholinguistic modeling of neural language models, and formal syntactic analysis of negation and wh-questions across languages.
Amy Scott Metcalfe is a Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC), affiliated with the Faculty of Education. She holds dual appointments with the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to higher education studies. Her research focuses on international comparative higher education systems, academic governance, and sociological analysis of university policies. She critiques managerialism trends and explores gender disparities in academic productivity. Metcalfe employs visual methodologies, including photo-ethnography and extended photo essays to document institutional change. Teaching responsibilities are managed through the Department of Educational Studies, with course details available via UBC’s official portal. Her scholarship spans Canadian and global contexts, addressing issues like faculty internationalization, research ethics frameworks, and the impact of pandemic disruptions on academic collaboration. Key contributions include longitudinal studies on Canadian professors’ perceptions of work-life balance, comparative analyses of gender gaps in research output across North America, and critical examinations of university-industry-government networks. She advocates for equity-centered pedagogies and anti-colonial approaches in higher education policy.
Bruce Fulton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Arts. As the inaugural holder of the Young-Bin Min Chair in Korean Literature and Literary Translation, he is a leading scholar in Korean literary studies. He is currently on leave for the 2024-2025 academic year but remains an active faculty member. His research interests focus on modern Korean fiction and its translation; intertextuality and intermediality in Korean literature past and present; and non-mainstream Korean literature, including women's literature, military camptown fiction, and the literature of the Korean diaspora. In his literature courses, he emphasizes close reading and textual analysis to distinguish the variety of voices and narrative techniques within Korea's millennia-old literary tradition. Fulton has an extensive publication record spanning several decades, with numerous translations of Korean literature into English, scholarly articles, and edited volumes. His translation work often collaborates with his spouse Ju-Chan Fulton. Recent publications show continued engagement with contemporary Korean fiction, particularly works exploring social issues, psychological realism, and historical memory. Specializes in translating modern Korean fiction Focuses on non-mainstream literature including women's writing Explores intertextuality and intermediality in Korean literary tradition Active in promoting Korean literature through translation and scholarship As a supervisor of graduate students, he works closely with Dr. Ross King to provide practical training in literary translation, field mastery, and reading of Korean texts both modern and premodern. He encourages students to publish and present their work at conferences and workshops, emphasizing professional development alongside academic growth.
Donato Totaro is a Part-time Lecturer in Film Studies at Concordia University's Faculty of Fine Arts in Montreal, Canada, where he has taught since 1990. He holds a PhD in Film & Television from the University of Warwick (UK), supervised by Victor F. Perkins, and serves as founding editor of the online film journal Offscreen since 1997. Totaro is also a member of the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma (AQCC) since 2004. Education: PhD in Film & Television, University of Warwick (UK) Research Interests: Totaro's work spans film criticism , the horror genre , Andrei Tarkovsky , cinema and temporality , and film style . His research explores theoretical and aesthetic dimensions through projects like The Face at the Window (analyzing horror motifs), Women in Horror (documenting post-2010 female contributions), and Monster Kid Generation (tracing cultural impacts of 1950s-1970s horror fandom on filmmakers like Spielberg and Del Toro). He pioneers audio-visual essays as critical tools. Publication Trends: His scholarship reveals evolving focus from Tarkovsky's temporal aesthetics to contemporary horror studies and genre hybridity (e.g., apocalyptic westerns). Recent works demonstrate increasing interdisciplinary reach, connecting film theory with cultural studies, gender analysis, and fan communities while maintaining rigorous formal analysis of cinematic techniques. Scientific Awards: Canada Council for the Arts Grants to Literary Magazines (2002-2019, $200,000+) SSHRC Scholarship (1997-2000) FCAR Quebec Research Grants (1987-1989) York University Research Grant (1988-89) Teaching & Editorial Impact: Totaro has received multiple teaching honors including the Faculty of Fine Arts Distinguished Teaching Award (2017) and Oksana and John Locke Award (2018). He teaches courses ranging from introductory film studies to specialized seminars on horror, Tarkovsky, and film criticism. As Offscreen's editor, he has shaped critical discourse for 25+ years, publishing hundreds of essays while mentoring emerging critics through this influential platform.
Millie Creighton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, affiliated with the Faculty of Arts. She specializes in socio-cultural anthropology with a focus on Japan, Japanese descent communities (Nikkei), Korea, and inter-Asian relations. Her research explores identity formation, consumerism, popular culture, gender dynamics, minority issues, and work-leisure intersections. Creighton’s academic journey includes studies on Japanese department stores' cultural commodification, Ainu identity movements, and the socio-cultural impacts of global phenomena like the Korean Wave. She has received the Canon Prize (1999) for her 1998 article on Japanese craft tourism. Her work critically examines transnational cultural flows, such as how Japanese consumers engage with Korean popular culture and how disasters like the 2011 Tohoku earthquake shape commemorative practices. She also investigates civil society activism around Japan’s Article 9 and post-disaster environmental advocacy. Key themes in her publications include the negotiation of identity through performance (e.g., taiko drumming), the role of nostalgia in consumer behavior, and the political dimensions of cultural representation in tourism and media. She teaches courses on Japanese popular culture, globalization, and ethnographic methods. Affiliations: Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts Key Awards: Canon Prize (1999) Research Foci: Identity, consumerism, inter-Asian relations, gender studies
Ji-young Shin serves as an Assistant Professor in the Teaching Stream within Education Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga's Department of Language Studies. Her position integrates teaching, research, and practical application in language education with emphasis on assessment innovation and technology integration. Her academic credentials include: PhD in English / Second Language Studies & ESL from Purdue University, USA MS in Educational Psychology & Research Methodology from Purdue University, USA MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea BA in English Education (Japanese minor) from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea Shin's research program focuses on language assessment, corpus linguistics, and technology-mediated pedagogy. She employs mixed methods with quantitative emphasis, utilizing corpus-informed computational analysis and latent-trait modeling complemented by qualitative discourse analysis. Her work addresses critical gaps in second language acquisition, educational measurement, and digital learning environments, particularly regarding AI applications and test validation across diverse language contexts. Her publication trajectory from 2017-2025 demonstrates consistent innovation in language assessment methodologies and technology integration. Key themes include AI-powered chatbots for L2 Korean instruction, online vocabulary testing for Spanish, and corpus-based writing pedagogy. Her work shows increasing focus on artificial intelligence applications and cross-linguistic validation studies, reflecting evolving priorities in language education research. Shin has secured competitive research funding including: Global Classrooms Grant (2025–2026) for VR-enhanced intercultural competence Black, Indigenous, and/or Racialized Scholar Grant (2025–2026) for cross-border AI language learning IRCC Engage3 Project (2022–2024) as Co-PI on VR/AI educational advancement Advancement Fund Plus (2022) for generative AI in teacher education British Council Award (2019) for technology-mediated assessment development She teaches advanced courses including 'The Future of Ed Tech: Active Learning Classrooms and Artificial Intelligence' (EDS285) and supervises community-based experiential learning (EDS388). Her grant portfolio indicates active supervision of research assistants and collaboration with international teams focused on AI implementation and assessment validation. Current projects explore generative AI for language learning across diverse contexts and virtual reality applications in teacher education. While specific laboratory infrastructure isn't documented, her collaborative publications with researchers across Korea, Spain, and the United States suggest participation in international research networks focused on language assessment technology and corpus applications.
Dr. Don Baker is a Professor of Korean Civilization in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and Co-Director of the Centre for Korean Research at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA). He has been involved with Korea since 1971, serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gwangju. He earned his Ph.D. in Korean history from the University of Washington (1983) and has taught at UBC since 1987. His research focuses on the intersection of philosophy, religion, and state in Korean history, with particular emphasis on religious communities' contentious relationships with the state. Recent work includes analyzing the role of religious groups during the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement. He has authored books such as Korean Spirituality and Catholics and Anti-Catholicism in Chosŏn Korea , and is general editor of the upcoming Cambridge History of Korea . He advises students in Asian Studies and contributes to policy research through SPPGA. His scholarship bridges historical analysis with contemporary regional dynamics.
Li Chen is Associate Professor of History and Global Asia Studies in the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies (UTSC) at the University of Toronto, with cross-appointments to the Graduate Department of History and the Faculty of Law. He served as Chair of the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies (2016–2019) and as President of the International Society for Chinese Law and History (2014–2017). His scholarship focuses on late-imperial and modern Chinese legal history, Sino-Western relations, and comparative legal cultures. Education J.D., University of Illinois, magna cum laude Ph.D., Chinese History, Columbia University Research Interests Chen’s work interrogates the intersection of law, empire, and culture in China from the 15th to the 20th centuries. He explores how legal knowledge was produced and circulated among private specialists in the Qing juridical field, how international law shaped Sino-Western encounters, and how colonial discourses constructed images of Chinese law and sovereignty. His current SSHRC-funded monograph, Invisible Power and Technocratic Governance , offers the first comprehensive study of Confucian-literati-turned-legal-advisors who quietly administered Qing local justice. Publications & Impact Chen’s 2016 monograph Chinese Law in Imperial Eyes received the Joseph Levenson Book Prize (pre-1900 China) and honorable mention for the Peter Gonville Stein Book Award. His articles in Law & History Review , Journal of the History of International Law , and Late Imperial China have been translated into Chinese and Korean, influencing scholarship across East Asia and North America. Awards & Honors Joseph Levenson Book Prize, Association for Asian Studies (2018) Peter Gonville Stein Book Award – Honorable Mention, American Society for Legal History (2017) Law and Society Association Article Prize – Honorable Mention (2011) Grants & Projects He is principal investigator on a multi-year SSHRC Insight Grant supporting archival research in China, Taiwan, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France for his forthcoming book on Qing legal specialists and their role in shaping imperial governance and legal culture.
