Upper Canada College welcomes incoming governor Joseph Wong

Wong joins UCC with a wealth of diverse experience in the education sector. He’s the Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, International Student Experience at the University of Toronto, and the Ralph and Roz Halbert Professor of Innovation at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He is also a professor of political science at U of T, a former director of the Asian Institute at the Munk School, and a past Canada Research Chair in Health, Democracy and Development. 

Wong has authored a number of academic articles and several books, and has been a visiting scholar in many leading global institutions, including the U.S., Taiwan, Korea, and

the U.K. His current academic research focuses on poverty and social policy innovation.

“As both a university educator and a UCC parent, I am deeply impressed by the College’s vision for the twenty-first century, a vision that celebrates a tradition of excellence, while staying agile and adaptable in order to embrace coming opportunities and to meet head-on global challenges,” Wong says. “I look forward to contributing to this ambitious agenda.”

Wong has a longstanding history of community service. As chair of the Reach Project, he works on finding ways to reach people in the most inaccessible places around the world, and engages with students from select Toronto-area high schools to tackle global challenges. At the University of Toronto, Wong designed a summer-abroad course to bring together U of T and Fudan University students to foster an environment of cross-cultural dialogue on global politics.

In 2013, Wong spoke at Upper Canada College at the annual World Affairs Conference where he debated “the death of the welfare state.”  He is the recipient of the Faculty of Arts and Science’s Outstanding Teacher Award from the University of Toronto.