Catherine Park

In a radically interconnected world, Catherine’s research focuses on how ethical, sociocultural, educational desires have turned toward the global. More specifically, she situates her current research project in rapidly urbanizing spaces in China, where urban development and the growth of global/international schools have gone hand in hand. She looks specifically to the cultural politics and meaning-making processes of students, parents, teachers, and administrators within such globalizing spaces where there are city and state-wide efforts to “go global.”

Catherine grew up attending schools in the United States; Japan; England; and South Korea, where her family resides. She received her BA with High Honors in English Literature and Psychology from Swarthmore College, then taught high school English Language and Composition in the Bronx with Teach for America.

While teaching, she obtained her MST in Teaching and is certified in teaching General and Exceptional Adolescents Grades 7-12. She then moved to Hangzhou, China to attend Zhejiang University with a China Scholarship Council Scholarship by the Chinese Ministry of Education, and graduated as the Outstanding International Graduate with an MA in China Studies. After that, she moved to Taipei, Taiwan to attend a language program before starting her doctoral journey at UC Berkeley.

As a Regent’s Fellow at UC Berkeley, she has conducted ethnographic research for BE Global with Prof. Glynda Hull at a Mandarin-English dual immersion charter school in the Bay Area. She has also taught with her advisors Prof. Erin Murphy-Graham and Prof. Hull for ED142 (Education in a Global World) and ED140 (The Art of Making Meaning: Educational Perspectives on Literacy and Learning in a Global World). Currently, she continues to study and conduct research as a student of the School of Education with a Designated Emphasis in Global Metropolitan Studies.

Degree(s)

MA, China Studies, Zhejiang University
MST, Teaching General and Exceptional Adolescents 7-12, Fordham University
BA, in English Literature and Psychology, Swarthmore College

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