JSGS welcomes two new faculty lecturers to its USask campus

The Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy is pleased to announce the two-year appointments of Dr. Yang Yang (Ph.D.) and Dr. Christopher (Chris) Gunter (Ph.D.) as faculty lecturers at the JSGS University of Saskatchewan (USask) campus, effective June 1 and July 1 respectively. Yang will focus primarily on teaching courses in areas of public finance, public-sector financial management, economics, and statistics/quantitative methods. Chris, on the other hand, will be responsible for teaching general public policy courses, including topics such as governance and administration, advanced governance, strategic management and public policy, administration, and professional planning.

With a doctoral degree from the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at USask, Yang has spent the past year as a postdoctoral fellow in the college. Under the supervision of Dr. Jill Hobbs (Ph.D.), Yang’s doctoral research focused mainly on areas of consumer behaviour, food economics, experimental economics and food policy. For her work, she was awarded the Richardson-Applebaum Scholarship for the best Ph.D. dissertation from the Food Distribution Research Society in Washington, D.C. (2018). Since then, she has worked on projects with the Arctic Council Northern Foods, and one with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Drs. David Natcher and Hobbs, on public acceptance of novel food technologies. Yang has previously taught or was a teaching assistant for undergraduate courses including resource economics and policy, agriculture finance and farm appraisal, intermediate statistics and decision making, and industrial organization of agricultural markets.

Yang also has master’s degrees in Finance and Economics from the Umeå University (2010) and Dalarna University (2009) in Sweden, and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, China (2008).

Chris hails from the University of Ottawa School of Political Studies, where he finished his Ph.D. in Administration (2018). Chris’ research and interests include public participation, democratic deliberation, arts management, creative and cultural industries, public institutions, discourse and knowledge, interdisciplinary approaches, cultural studies, critical cultural policy, cultural heritage and identity, museums and cultural policy, and ecomuseums. He has taught courses in public management, public participation and cultural management, interdisciplinary research methods, and ethics.

Throughout his graduate career, Chris was awarded over $117K in scholarships and awards, including a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, in 2010. Prior to his doctoral program, he spent time at the University of New Brunswick, where he completed his Master’s Degree in Policy Studies (2011), a University Teaching Diploma (2010), and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance (2008).

Outside of academia, Chris has served as a senior policy researcher for Public Governance International (PGI) where he analyzed frameworks that provide a conceptual road map for navigating the relationship between government, society and citizens. He also supported PGI’s work with national and international partners and contributed to projects on public sector risk, citizen participation, gamification, sustainability, and course design and learning activities. Prior to this, Chris was a Communications, Digital Media and Web Manager for Workers’ History Museum in Ottawa. He also spent time as a visiting scholar in the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at Universidad de La Salle, Chapel of the Star (Campus Chapinero) in Colombia, and as a Health Promotion Researcher for CF Health Services Group within the Government of Canada’s Department of National Defence.