The shift from doctoral studies to faculty roles brings challenges, such as developing course materials, balancing research and teaching demands, and adapting pedagogical approaches to different institutional cultures. To address these common concerns, CHUS (Chinese Historians in the United States) invites you to join an online discussion with three outstanding early-career scholars.
Our speakers include Dr. Kyungsun Lee (Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Arkansas at Little Rock), Dr. Bess Xintong Liu (Visiting Assistant Professor of Music, Kenyon College), and Dr. Yidi Wu (Assistant Professor of History, Elon University). They will share their experiences and discuss practical solutions to common challenges faced by new faculty members across different institutional settings. Whether you’re preparing for the academic job market or just starting your first teaching position, this event will offer practical perspectives and specific strategies for building a successful academic career.
Sincerely,
Dr. Yi Ren
Our speakers:
Dr. Kyungsun Lee is an Assistant Professor of Geography in the Department of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. As an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist, Dr. Lee’s research focuses on investigating the governance of socio-technical systems for urban water sustainability transitions. Dr. Lee teaches courses in human geography, environmental history, and environmental justice and has a strong interest in integrating sustainability across the curriculum. Before joining the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, she was a Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and a Postdoctoral Researcher at Texas A&M University. Dr. Lee earned her Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resources Policy from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, as well as a master’s degree in the History of Science and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering, both from Seoul National University.
Bess Xintong Liu is currently the Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Kenyon College. She graduated from the musicological doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania in 2023. Her primary research interest lies in musical exchange between China and the West in the twentieth century. Her dissertation titled “Resonant China: Transnational Music-making and the Construction of the Public, 1934-1958” explores music circles originated in Shanghai but expanded globally. Besides her commitment as a music historian, she is also a pianist, vocalist, translator, and a Chinese chamber music director.
Dr. Yidi Wu is the O’Briant Developing Professor and Assistant Professor of History at Elon University in North Carolina. Yidi teaches China, East Asia, world history, and occasionally Argentine tango. She practices and promotes historical role-playing games and ungrading in teaching. Her first book focuses on Chinese student activism in 1957. Her second book project investigates the transformation of Chinese higher education in the early 1950s. She is also developing a role-playing game based on the dialogues between student activists and government officials in 1989. She has served as the book review editor for PRC History Review from 2018 to 2024.