Associate Professor, Program Coordinator
Biography
I am delighted to have joined the learning community here at UT Knoxville in fall of 2016. Originally from China, I came to Laramie, Wyoming, from DeKalb, Illinois. For the past 14 years, I have served on the faculty of the Adult and Post-Secondary Education Program at the University of Wyoming. I have designed courses that help infuse global vision and international perspectives through comparative lenses. I have been advocating for learning from the Rest not just from the West. Through my research and teaching, I say that education and learning should promote not only lifelong learners but also life-wide learners, not only national citizens but also global citizens with holistic development especially cultural competency. I am a mother of two and I enjoy walking and swimming with my kids. I look forward to exploring East Tennessee with my family.
Research
- Adult learning & transformative learning
- International & comparative education
- Lifelong learning & learning society
- Cross-culture teaching & learning
- Eastern philosophy & Confucianism for modern adult learning & education
Education
- EdD, Adult and Continuing Education, Northern Illinois University, 2001
Publications
Sun, Q., & Roumell, E. A. L. (2017). Interrupting the mindset of educational neocolonialism: Critical deliberations from East and West international adult educators. Asia Pacific Education Review. doi:10.1007/s12564-017-9482-9
Kang, H. Lyu, L. & Sun, Q. (2016). Examining the impact of a DSP project through a comparative adult education lens: A snapshot of principal professional development for education internationalization in Beijing, China. Educational Considerations (USA), 43(3), 18-26.
Sun, Q., & Kang, H. (2015). Infusing work-based learning (WBL) with Confucian principles: A comparative perspective. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning (UK). 5(4), 323-338 DOI 10.1108/HESWBL-04-2015-0019. Note: The Outstanding Paper in the 2016 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence.
Sun, Q. (2015). Transformative Learning In Practice: Insights from Community, Workplace, and Higher Education, by Jack Mezirow, Edward W. Taylor and Associates. San Francisco, CA: Jossy-Bass, 2009. 317pp., ISBN 978-0-470-25790-6.
Presentations
Sun, Q. (2017). Learning to transform from Newtonian thinking to quantum thinking: Understanding potentials of learning society in change. Keynote Speech for the 2017 International Conference on Educational research (ICER) to be held in Seoul, South Korea from Oct 18-20, 2017.
Sun, Q., & Kang, H. (2017). Paper to be presented at the 66th Annual AAACE: Transforming our mindsets: Stories of learning from the East by scholars from the West, to be held in Memphis, Tennessee from Oct 29-Nov 3, 2017.
Sun, Q., & Higgins, P. (2017). Paper to be presented at the 66th Annual AAACE: The experience of East Asian students on US campus support services: A case study, to be held in Memphis, Tennessee, from Oct 29-Nov 3, 2017.
Sun, Q., & Linkous, H. (2017). Paper to be presented at the 66th Annual AAACE: Answering the call for learning cities in a Western world, to be held in Memphis, Tennessee, from Oct 29-Nov 3, 2017.
Sun, Q. (2017). East meets West: What learning happens between Eastern students and Western faculty? Host of Opening Session Panel at the 10th Asian PreConference in conjunction with AERC in Norman, Oklahoma University June 8-11, 2017.
Sun, Q., Chang. B., & Kang, H. (2017). Reviewing past and envisioning future: Meaning making on our journey for bridging East with West in adult education research. The 10th Asian PreConference in conjunction with AERC in Norman, Oklahoma University June 8-11, 2017.
Sun, Q., & Higgins, P. (2017). Perception of campus life from international students of Confucian heritage cultural: A case study at a USA community college. Paper presented at the 10th Asian PreConference in conjunction with AERC in Norman, Oklahoma University June 8-11, 2017.
Sun, Q., & Linkous, H. (2017). Participation in lifelong learning via building learning cities: What can we learn from the East. Paper presented at the 10th Asian PreConference in conjunction with AERC in Norman, Oklahoma University June 8-11, 2017.
Kang, H., Sun, Q. & Lyu, L. (2016). Learning to transform in Eastern adult education context. The 65th Annual Conference of The American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). November 8 – 11, 2016. Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Sun, Q., & Yuan, D. (2016). Building a learning society via establishing learning cities in China: An updated review on progress and barriers of policy, research, and practice. The 65th Annual Conference of The American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). November 8 – 11, 2016. Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Sun, Q. & Kang, H. (2016). Learning from the East: Voices of international adult and higher education scholars from the West. The XVI World Congress of Comparative Education Societies, August 22 – 26, Beijing, China.
Sun, Q. & Kang, H. (2016). Think globally and act locally: Infusing transformative learning into education internationalization. The XVI World Congress of Comparative Education Societies, August 22 – 26, Beijing, China.
Sun, Q. & Kang, H. (2016). Learning from the East: Stories of the well-established international adult educators. The 9th Asian Diaspora Pre Conference in conjunction with the 57th Annual Adult Education Research Conference (AERC), June 2 -5, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Sun, Q., Kang, H., Chang, B., & Lausch, D. (2015). U.S. faculty perceptions of Confucian cultural learners. The 64th Annual Conference of The American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) (Roundtable). November 17 – 20, 2015. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Sun, Q. & Kang, H. (2015). An Eastern learning model for transforming work-based learning in Western adult and higher education. The 8th Asian Pre Conference in conjunction with the 56th Annual Adult Education Research Conference (AERC), May 19, 2015, Manhattan, Kansas.
Sun, Q., Kang, H., Chang, B., Lausch, D. & Frush, K. (2015). Teaching international students from Confucian culture: A US faculty perspective. The 8th Asian Pre Conference in conjunction with the 56th Annual Adult Education Research Conference (AERC), May 19, 2015, Manhattan, Kansas.
Contact Information
- 519 Bailey Education Complex, 1126 Volunteer Blvd.
- Phone: 865-974-5403
- E-mail: qsun8@utk.edu