Yea-Wen Chen (M.A. University of North Texas, Ph.D. University of New Mexico) is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Director of the Institute for Dialogue and Social Justice at San Diego State University.
Between spring 2019 and fall 2020, she served as a Professor of Equity co-facilitating seminars on equity, implicit bias, and microaggressions on her campus. Her research examines how communication—including silence—about cultural identities impacts diversity, inclusion, and social justice across contexts such as identity-based nonprofit organizations. She is the winner of numerous top paper awards at regional, national, and international communication conferences. Dr. Chen has published over 40 works, including peer-reviewed articles in Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, and Departures in Critical Qualitative Research. She has co-edited Our Voices: Essays in Culture, Ethnicity, and Communication (6th Edition, Oxford University Press, 2015), and Postcolonial Turn and Geopolitical Uncertainty: Transnational Critical Intercultural Communication Pedagogy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).
Key Publications:
Chen, Y.-W., Black, F., Devos, T., Hernandez, R., Jayawardene, S., Reinholz, D. L., & Villodas, F. (2021). Becoming Professors of Equity at San Diego State University: Reflecting on professional seminars on implicit biases and microaggressions. In H. Oliha-Donaldson (Eds.), Confronting critical equity and inclusion incidents on campus: Lessons learned and emerging practices. Routledge.
Chen, Y.-W., & Lawless, B. (2019). Teaching critical moments within neoliberal universities: Exploring critical intercultural communication pedagogy. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 48(5), 553-573. doi:10.1080/17475759.2019.1683056
Chen, Y.-W., Chalko, K., & Bonilla, M. (2019). When religion meets academia: Millennial Christians becoming cultural Others on a minority-serving campus in the United States. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 12(4), 325-343. doi:10.1080/17513057.2018.1557732
Chen, Y.-W. (2018). “Why don’t you speak (up), Asian/immigrant/woman?”: Rethink silence and voice through family oral history. Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 7(2), 29-48. doi:10.1525/dcqr.2018.7.2.29
Chen, Y.-W., & Lawless, B. (2018). “Oh my god! You have become so Americanized”: Paradoxes of adaptation and strategic ambiguity among female immigrant faculty. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 11(1), 1-20. doi:10.1080/17513057.2017.1385825
*Translation article: Chen, Y.-W., & Lawless, B. (January 11, 2018). Challenging “otherness”: Female immigrant faculty in the U.S. and their struggle to adapt. Communication Currents.
Chen, Y.-W., & Collier, M. J. (2012). Intercultural identity positioning: Interview discourses from two identity-based nonprofit organizations. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 5(1), 43-63. doi:10.1080/17513057.2011.631215
*Translation article: Chen, Y.-W., & Collier, M. J. (April 1, 2012). Communication about cultural identity differences matters for nonprofits. Communication Currents.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 