From the Ivy League to SFU: What attracted Wendy Chun to a research chair role at SFU

As one of Canada’s fastest-growing research universities, Simon Fraser University (SFU) provides academics like Wendy Chun, Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media, with the foundation to produce high-impact scholarship.

After completing her undergraduate degree in Canada, Chun built a successful academic career in the United States, first at Princeton University, where she earned her master’s and PhD, then as a professor and department chair at Brown University, where she taught for almost 20 years.

Her research with fellow collaborators at SFU, where she heads up the Digital Democracies Institute, is focused on creating multi-disciplinary “data fluencies”—critical and creative ways to respond to and reimagine a world increasingly dominated by data. She and her fellow researchers are exploring how AI is impacting the future of work, incarceration, education and learning, and the potential for humanities-centered AI models.

SFU recruits world-class researchers from around the globe with its supportive innovation ecosystem, collaborative research culture and commitment to global impact. Learn what drew Wendy to SFU—and back to Canada—from the United States in this Q&A.

What attracted you to a research chair opportunity at SFU specifically? 

The desire to be part of a public, Canadian university. I was brought up in this system: I went to the University of Waterloo and received a BASc in Systems Design Engineering. Then, I got my PhD at Princeton and taught at Brown. So, I was steeped in a privileged and private Ivy League university structure. I wanted to return to Canada and support students in a country that was committed to public education. I had become a professor in hopes of making a difference.

The School of Communication attracted me to SFU. Zoë Druick from the School of Communication reached out to me. The school’s focus on public and community engagement and critical thinking were draws for me. The School of Communication is one of the first in Canada and has a storied history, as well as a vibrant, young faculty.

What are the opportunities at SFU that you see for researchers currently based internationally?

For researchers who are in the social sciences and humanities, it is the Tri-Council, specifically the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Through SSHRC, you have funding that would not be available for researchers in these fields in the U.S., for example.

Are there non-work benefits that you have enjoyed while at SFU in terms of recreation, culture, or climate that you think would be a draw for internationally based researchers?

The mountains were a huge draw—my sweetheart and I are into mountaineering. And the combination of the mountains and the ocean makes this area stunningly beautiful. Vancouver is unfortunately unaffordable, though many other North American cities are, as well.