Beginning on July 1, 2024 Academy award-winning director Ruby Yang will officially commence her two-year tenure as Director of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre (JMSC) at the University of Hong Kong. She has taught at HKU since 2013 when she joined as the Hung Leung Hau Ling Distinguished Fellow in Humanities.
“Over the past year, Professor Yang has served as the Interim Director of the Centre with passion and visionary leadership, which has played a pivotal role in fostering sustainable growth and strengthening the Centre’s position,” said Professor Ming Wen, the Dean of Social Sciences in the announcement.
As a filmmaker and teacher, Yang has inspired students from Hong Kong and beyond, elevating the art of storytelling both in journalism and filmmaking. Born in Hong Kong and having received her Master’s degree from the San Francisco Art Institute, she has spent over three decades of her career working in the United States, Beijing, and Hong Kong. Her documentary The Blood of Yingzhou District on the effects of AIDS on orphans in Anhui Province, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject in 2007.
Yang is the recipient of multiple Academy Award and Emmy nominations, as well as several international awards, including the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, FilmAid Asia’s Humanitarian Award, and the Global Health Council Media Award.