Many members of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) research community will know Kay Li as a dedicated Research Officer in the Office of the Dean, but she is also an accomplished scholar, whose second book, entitled, Bernard Shaw’s Bridges to Chinese Culture, was recently published by Palgrave Macmillan (2016).

Part of the Series, Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries, Bernard Shaw’s Bridges to Chinese Culture “explores the cultural bridges connecting George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries, such as Charles Dickens and Arthur Miller, to China. Analyzing readings, adaptations, and connections of Shaw in China through the lens of Chinese culture, Li details the negotiations between the focused and culturally specific standpoints of eastern and western culture while also investigating the simultaneously diffused, multi-focal, and comprehensive perspectives that create strategic moments that favor cross-cultural readings.”

“I had no idea that Kay was writing books - impressive!” said Susan McGrath, upon hearing the news. A Professor in the School of Social Work, Dr. McGrath has benefitted from Li’s support on a number of successful grant applications, awards and nominations.

When notified of her recent accomplishment, Dr. Ali Asgary, Associate Professor and Coordinator, Disaster and Emergency Management, reflected, “Dr. Li's encouragement, support, perseverance, and availability to provide research administration support were fundamental to my research proposals. Her responsiveness, attention, and push were well beyond the expectation. Many occasions I have emailed her outside office hours and sometimes late at night or early in the morning. She was always available to help. She is dedicated. She congratulates researchers very warmly when they are successful in their applications and provides them with hopes and alternative routes when an application does not work.”

Li is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of English, with a number of active grants and ongoing projects, one of which is an upcoming event funded by SSHRC, as well as York University and the Federal Government’s Canada 150 funds, entitled Unity in Diversity: Fusion of Communities in Canada.

When asked how she balances her academic and research administration careers, Li quipped, “York University’s motto is ‘The Way Must Be Tried.’”

To learn more about Kay Li and her new book, please visit the publisher’s website, here.