Former Editors

Hyung-Gu Lynn

Hyung-Gu Lynn (2008-2023)

Vols. 81.2 – 96.2

Hyung-Gu Lynn’s research focuses on modern and contemporary Korea (South and North) and Japan, covering imperialism, colonialism, developmentalism, globalization, migration, and mediatization. He maintains an interest in metacognition, fountain pens, and boxing, and clings to the chimerical notion that literacy, curiosity, precision, eclecticism, thoroughness, self-awareness, and logic (but not typos) matter in academia. He obtained his Ph.D. at Harvard University, and teaches as the AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research in the Department of Asian Studies at UBC.


Timothy C. Cheek (2002–2008)

Timothy C. Cheek

Vols. 75.3–81.1

Timothy Cheek came to UBC and Pacific Affairs from Australia by way of the United States. He obtained his doctorate degree in History and East Asian Languages at Harvard University. His editing experience began with the CCP Research Newsletter. His area of specialty is China, with a focus on China’s intellectuals and Chinese Communist Party history. He is the Louis Cha Chair in Chinese Research at the Institute of Asian Research.

 


Glen Peterson

Glen Peterson, Interim Editor (2000–2002)

Vols. 73.4–75.2

Glen Peterson obtained his doctorate degree from the University of British Columbia. His area of specialization is modern Chinese history with a focus on South China, Chinese transnationalism, and the history of education in China. His publications include Education, Culture and Identity in Twentieth-Century China (with Ruth Hayhoe and Yongling Lu) and The Power of Words: Literacy and Revolution in South China, 1949–1995.


Terry McGee

Terry McGee, Interim Editor (1999–2000)

Vols. 72.4–73.3

Terry McGee obtained his masters and doctorate degrees at the University of Wellington, New Zealand. He was the recipient fo the UBC Isaac Killam Research Prize in 1996, and the Erskine Fellowship from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand in 2000. He was awarded the Vautrin Lud Prize in Geography by the International Geographical Union, which is the top international prize in geography. At UBC, he was a director at the Institute of Asian Research and a professor at the Faculties of Arts and of Graduate Studies.


Ian D. Slater

Ian D. Slater (1987–1999)

Vols. 60.3–72.3

Dr. Ian D. Slater (b. 1941) is an author of best-selling thrillers. He is a native of Australia where he worked for the Australian navy and the Australian Joint Intelligence Agency, after which he became a marine geology technician in New Zealand and then in Canada. He published his first adventure-thriller Firespill in 1977, the same year he obtained his doctorate degree in political science at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of 23 novels, as well as various stage plays, short stories, and a critically acclaimed literary biography of George Orwell.


R.S. Milne

R.S. Milne (1985–1987)

Vols. 58.1–60.2

Robert Stephen Milne (1920–2014) was a graduate of Oxford University and a veteran of World War II. He specialized in the politics of the Southeast Asian region, specifically Malaysia and Singapore. His published works include Malaysian Politics under Mahathir and Singapore: The Legacy of Lee Kuan Yew. He held academic positions in various universities around the world. He was a professor at Wellington, New Zealand, as well as the Universities of Singapore, Bristol, The Hague, and the Philippines. Finally, he was founding Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada from 1980.


 


Peter Chamberlain

Heath B. Chamberlain (1978–1984)

Vols. 51.3–57.4

Heath (Pete) Chamberlain is a China specialist who taught in UBC’s Political Science Department from 1968–2001. He has published articles on Chinese Communist Party economic management and Chinese civil society in such journals as China Quarterly, Modern China, Pacific Affairs and the Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs.

 


Philip E. Lilienthal (1946–1953)

Philip E. Lilienthal

Vols. 19.1–26.4

Prior to serving as editor of Pacific Affairs, Philip Lilienthal (1914–1984) worked for the IPR, and was active in other organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. During the time he served as the editor for Pacific Affairs, he was concurrently the editor for the Far Eastern Survey (now Asian Survey). After his term, he took the position of editor at the University of California Press. His contributions to the development of that press is marked by the series named in his honour.

 


William Holland

William L. Holland (1943–44; 1954–1978)

Vols. 16.1–17.4; 27.1–51.2

While William L. Holland’s (1907–2008) terms as editor of Pacific Affairs were his most prominent contribution to the journal, his close association with Pacific Affairs dated back to his work with the Institute of Pacific Relations, where he served as the American IPR Executive Secretary and the IPR Secretary-General, among other roles. It was during his second term as editor that Pacific Affairs moved its headquarters to The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada in 1961. He was concurrently appointed as the head of the Department of Asian Studies at the university. In 2003, he established the William L. Holland prize for the best article of the year from Pacific Affairs. Please visit our webpage for further details.


Edward C. Carter (1941–1942; 1945)

Edward Carter

Edward Carter

Vols. 14.3–15.4; 18.1–18.4

Edward C. Carter (1878–1954) was a prominent figure in the international YMCA movement prior to his time as the editor of Pacific Affairs. He was secretary (1926–1933) and then secretary general (1933–1946) of the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR). When he commenced his term as secretary general in 1933, he successfully lobbied to have the IPR headquarters moved from Hawaii to New York. Pacific Affairs moved along with the IPR to New York.


Owen Lattimore (1934–1941)

Vols. 7.1–14.2

Owen Lattimore (1900–1989) was a pioneering scholar and educator who published extensively on Mongolia and other parts of Inner Asia. During World War II, he was a political advisor to Chiang Kai-Shek for six months, as well as serving in the US Office of War Information. He was a victim of the McCarthy witch hunts of the early 1950s, and eventually moved to Britain in 1963. He retired and returned to the US in 1970.


Elizabeth Green (1928–1933)

Elizabeth Green

Vols. 1.1–6.7

Elizabeth Green was the editor of Pacific Affairs during its first six years of existence. At the time, Pacific Affairs’ headquarters was located in Hawaii. She later married E.S. Craighill Handy – a renowned author who specialized in the ancient civilizations of Hawaii. She co-authored a book entitled “Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and the Environment” with her husband and Mary Pukui. Elizabeth Green also played a prominent role in the early women’s suffrage movement in the United States.