Joel See, Ph.D.

Joel See is a sociologist with a Ph.D. from Florida State. He currently teaches courses on Popular Culture, Social Problems, Introduction to Sociology, Cross-Cultural Communication, Cultural Anthropology, and Marriage and Family.

Since receiving his Ph.D., he has also studied at the East-West Center in Hawaii, where he was a participant in a summer institute on Japanese Culture and Civilization, and at the Intercultural Institute in Oregon, where he studies cross-cultural communication.

His courses are often global and cross-cultural in their approach. His special interest is contemporary Japanese culture and society. He has lived and worked in Japan on two occasions, first at the Minnesota State University campus in Akita, and most recently (2000-2002) at Miyazaki International College, an experimental college on Kyushu Island.

His scholarship and writing are primarily on ways to incorporate active learning into sociology courses. He has recently given conference presentations in the U.S., England, Thailand, and Japan.

Joel is also a photographer with interests in visual sociology, and has recently published in that area. In 2004 he will be involved in a grant-funded field study program in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China.

As a teacher, Joel's goal is to help students learn to develop a sociological view of the world. This includes critical thinking about the culture around us, especially popular forms of culture and mass media. He believes very strongly that we can learn a lot about ourselves and our own culture by studying the cultures and lives of people different from our own.

Joel is an avid traveler, having visited such countries as Nepal, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, China, Peru, Cuba, and Senegal, West Africa. He combines his interests in travel, photography, and sociology to produce materials for his classes at UNE. Nature and outdoor activities are also important to his life. He lives in Maine to be near the ocean and mountains.