Yidong (Steven) Wang, PhD, has not quite acclimated to Michigan’s weather, particularly “always being cold,” since he came to Lawrence Technological University in July 2024. “It is my first time living in a big city in the U.S., and the part I like is the connection to the local community,” he said.
Wang joined the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Communication as an assistant professor teaching courses such as “alternative media” and “counter publics and writing for electronic and print media.” He is helping to create new courses at LTU in critical media studies.
He said, “When we think about media, we are typically talking about commercial television and radio. But there are so many other niche media, like community radio, that are more aligned with how we think about our political identity,” explained Wang about the purpose and value of diverse media.
About writing, Wang says, “It’s about the story. Everyone has a story, and every story is worth telling.” His premise is that we are all part of a community, and we do not read enough humanizing stories about a community’s different histories.
Wang teaches undergraduates at all levels. He says they often think of writing as a trade or a technique. He asks them, “Does your writing have a soul?” and then tells his students that writing is about forming relationships with your subject. “Journalism is about compassion. You will find your voice in your writing when you start with your heart.”
Already a “Detroiter” living in the Woodbridge area of the city, Wang introduced his students to the story of that historic neighborhood “because the architecture and the gentrification vs. resistance are uniquely Detroit. Once a student starts to pay attention, a unique story emerges,” he explained.
His research and teaching intersect with media ecology, digital storytelling, public humanities, and queer theory. He studies how LGBTQ communities in different cultural contexts navigate emergent media spaces, sustain communication networks, and discourse on identity, well-being, and intimacy. He notes that LTU enthusiastically supports collaborative research. Wang is conducting one such collaboration project on critical tech studies. He’s asking, “What’s behind AI (artificial intelligence)? What’s the relationship between this magical technology and the human experience? It’s the result of countless hours of human labor.”
Wang is investigating the solidarity between human labor and technology as one way to help people feel more comfortable with and understand that AI would not exist if there were not human ingenuity and human labor creating it.
Prior to LTU, Wang completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Kansas. He earned his master’s degree and PhD in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Beijing, his bachelor’s degree in journalism is from Hong Kong Baptist University.
By: Renée Ahee
