Dr. Y-Dang Troeung (張依蘭) (ទ្រឿងអ៊ីដាង) was born in 1980 in Khao-I-Dang refugee camp, which became her namesake. In December of the same year, her family immigrated to Canada as refugees from Cambodia.

A talented scholar, Dr. Troeung received her PhD in English Literature from McMaster University. She accepted a position at the City University of Hong Kong in 2012, where she was an Assistant Professor of English for six years. She then joined the UBC Department of English Language & Literatures as an Assistant Professor in 2018, where her generous spirit and passion for teaching quickly made her a treasured colleague and friend at Canadian Literature, the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, and the Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies Program.

As a scholar, Dr. Troeung’s work is as expansive as it is imaginative. Recognized internationally as a unique voice in transnational Asian and Asian North American studies, critical disability studies, and critical refugee studies, Dr. Troeung was fiercely committed to understanding the lived experiences of refugee communities, and her research was grounded within her personal experience. Her first book, Refugee Lifeworlds: The Afterlife of the Cold War in Cambodia, was published in 2022. Weeks before her passing, she co-directed the short film Easter Epic (forthcoming 2023) based on the true story of a Cambodian refugee family who settled in small-town Ontario. Her family memoir, Landbridge, is forthcoming in Fall 2023.

Dr. Troeung was a beloved teacher and mentor. At UBC, she weaved the ethics of care into every aspect of her work, and nurtured a community of learning with her spirit of generosity, commitment to student wellbeing, and genuine love for teaching. Whether it was empowering her students to see themselves in academia or advocating for the hiring and wellbeing of BIPOC students and faculty, her mentorship continues to be lasting and transformative for many UBC communities.

To honour Dr. Troeung’s life and work, her family, friends, and colleagues have created the Y-Dang Troeung Memorial Fund. Your gift will pay tribute to Dr. Troeung’s dedication to student mentorship by supporting UBC students who follow in her footsteps. Final decisions on the award description and student eligibility will be made in consultation with her family.