Department
Department of Human Communication and Theatre
Phone
+1 (210) 9998940
Email Address
ewong@trinity.edu
Location
Center for the Sciences and Innovation
Room
203
a headshot of Elaine Wong

I was born in Taiwan and grew up in Hong Kong. My journey to San Antonio began with a love story. My then-boyfriend, now husband, and I met in Hong Kong, but he moved to San Antonio for a faculty position soon after. A year later, I joined him in San Antonio and began my doctoral studies. After my graduation, we got married, and I started working at Trinity as an adjunct instructor.

My teaching at Trinity is interdisciplinary, centering around language. Currently, I am the program director of the Linguistics Minor. Thanks to the program’s interdisciplinary structure and Trinity’s tight-knit learning community, I have the opportunity to work with students from various academic backgrounds and develop flexibility in the program to suit their needs.  

In my first year of teaching at Trinity, I began translating poetry from Chinese to English. Poetry translation gave me the mission to draw attention to humanness through cross-cultural exchange. 

Education

•    Ph.D., The University of Texas at San Antonio
•    M.A. (Distinction) , The University of Hong Kong (English Studies)
•    M.A., The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Translation)
•    B.A., The Chinese University of Hong Kong 

Selected Publications

•    Dynasties/Saints: Poems of Chen Li (translator). Cambria Press, forthcoming 2026. 
•    “Translation Multiples of Classical Chinese Poetry: An Interlingual Perspective.” In Multilingualism, Literature and Translation in East Asia, edited by Tzu-yu Lin. Routledge, 2026, pp. 184-203.
•    “Form = Content?: Semiotic Convergence and Divergence in Concrete Poetry” In Identity, Multiplicity, and Resistance in Taiwanese Poetry, edited by Wen-chi Li. Routledge, 2025, pp. 125-145.
•    “Chinese Translingual Writing: In and Out.” The Routledge Handbook of Translingual Literature, edited by Steven G. Kellman and Natasha Lvovich. Routledge, 2021, pp. 287-300.

Subjects Taught

•    Linguistics
•    Asian American language identities 
•    Chinese Literature in Translation
•    Being Young in Asia FYE 

Community Service & Involvement

•    Organizer and chair of student panels at SouthWest Conference on Asian Studies, 2023 and 2025
•    Editorial board member of Journal of Literary Multilingualism, 2021-2023

Teaching and Expertise

•    Comparative poetics
•    Concrete poetry
•    Sinophone literatures 
•    Translation studies