In honour of Joseph Wong, Ralph and Roz  Halbert Professor of Innovation, who is stepping down after eight years of dedicated service as director of the Asian Institute, the AI is pleased to announce the establishment of the Joseph Wong Student Experience Fund. The fund was made possible through the support of the Faculty of Arts and Science, the Munk School of Global Affairs, and Professor Wong’s colleagues, family, friends, and students, and will fund an annual award given out to a student at the Asian Institute to support innovative learning opportunities for studying Asia that extend beyond the classroom.

This surprise tribute was created in recognition of Professor Wong’s dedication to enriching the student experience and empowering student growth, and was announced at his stepping-down reception on April 2, 2014. Donations can be made at https://donate.utoronto.ca/asianinstitute.

In the spirit of remembering Professor Wong’s service to the Asian Institute, we interviewed him about his time here. Read the full interview below.

AI: When did you first become Director of the Asian Institute, and what drew you to this opportunity?

JW: I was appointed Interim Director of the Asian Institute in the fall of 2005. As the Interim Director, I thought my term would only be one year. It’s been eight years now, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to serve for so long. I indeed viewed the appointment as an opportunity. It was clear that Eileen Lam, the Associate Director of the Asian Institute, would offer an endless source of energy, enthusiasm and programming creativity. Professor Michael Donnelly, my predecessor, had laid such a strong foundation that it seemed to me, and my colleagues, that the Asian Institute was in a position to really “take-off.” And it did. There was a sense at the time that the Asian Institute was the ideal platform for doing cutting-edge interdisciplinary work, a home for scholars and students across the University to do interesting work they’d not be able to do in their home departments. The Academic Initiative Fund grant, which we were successful in winning in 2006, reflected this vision. And the ideals expressed in that grant – thematic research agendas, inter-disciplinary work, intra-regional dialogue, grounded empirical work – continue to shape the Asian Institute today.

AI: How has the AI changed over the course of your directorship?

JW: The Asian Institute was really a research-oriented place when I first began as Director. Over the years, however, the Asian Institute has also become a place of really innovative teaching. And I want to stress that by teaching, I don’t mean the Institute expanded its mandate. Not at all, in fact. What I mean is that we collectively realized that teaching and research are complementary, inseparable endeavors, really two sides of the same coin. In addition, the Asian Institute is really a public good, a community of scholars and portal of scholarship that are accessible to the broader interested community. I think this reflects the mission of the University.

AI: What achievement(s) are you most proud of from your tenure as AI director?

JW: Over the past eight years, the Asian Institute’s teaching programs have evolved quite considerably. This was driven, in part, by the imperatives of finding our own identity, and of course, in part, a function of resources. I’m so proud that colleagues associated with the Asian Institute have worked to develop an intellectual identity that complements the other fantastic resources in Asian studies around the campus, notably the departments, the East Asian Studies department in particular, and initiatives at UTM and UTSC. The result of this was the launch of the Contemporary Asian Studies (CAS) program two years ago. The launch was facilitated by the generation of new resources, as well, an effort spearheaded by the Dean’s office, and Professor Meric Gertler specifically. Dean (and now President) Gertler was instrumental in ensuring the Asian Institute had the needed resources to launch and maintain a robust, thematically-driven, high-quality teaching program. In our original proposal to the Dean we had forecast an enrollment goal of 150 CAS majors and minors in five years; I’m proud to say that we achieved that goal in just two years, a wonderful testament to the quality of teaching we provide, the commitment of faculty members associated with the Asian Institute, and of course, our students.

AI: What will you be focusing on after you step down?

JW: I will be going on sabbatical for the academic year 2014-15, and will be spending part of that with my family at Oxford, specifically as a professorial visitor at Nuffield College. I look forward to delving into my two new research projects: one on poverty, invisibility and innovation in the global south, and the other on democratic transitions in dominant regime systems in East and Southeast Asia, a book project I’m working on with Professor Dan Slater of the University of Chicago. I also plan to think more about my work in social innovation, and ways to institutionalize great Asian Institute initiatives such as the Global Ideas Institute (GII) and the Social Innovation Research Group in Taiwan (SIRG, SURGE).

AI: What do you think is on the horizon for the AI in the coming years?

Only good things. Our students are the horizon, and they are an incredible source of inspiration.

Photo Credit: Weronika Czapla