Profile

Dr. Karlyn Koh is a Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College. Karlyn is trained in the fields of critical theory, post-colonial theory, Asian North American cultural studies (U.S. and Canada), queer theory, and post-modern poetry. Her scholarly work is concerned with the effects of (post)colonialism and globalization on the construction of identity (in particular, racialized ethnicity), and have written on the impact of colonial thinking on the construction of Asian Canadian or Asian ("oriental") identity, especially in the context of the colonial discourse on indigeneity. Her research has been funded by research grants and awards, including from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, CUNY-PSC, and the Mellon Foundation/CUNY BRESI. Karlyn's current research project is a long-term comparative analysis of the eastern Mediterranean (specifically the Greek archipelago), and the Nusantara (archipelagic Southeast Asia)”two different and less commonly connected spaces of European (particularly British) and U.S. colonial and imperial power.

From 2006-2021, Karlyn served her my college's Honors Program Director. In that capacity, Dr. Koh was the 2014-2017 Executive Secretary of the Northeast Regional Honors Council (NRHC), and served on the major scholarships and 2-year college committees of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), and other national and CUNY scholarship programs. She have received mentoring awards such as: the Bonita C. Jacobs Transfer Champion Award, National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (2014); Professor of the Year Award, Student Government Association, LaGuardia Community College (2011); a 2017 Teacher Tribute Award from Stanford University (for work with community college transfer students); and advisor awards from Phi Theta Kappa. Dr. Koh have also published and presented on Honors education in community colleges, including in the Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council.