Yen-Chiao Liao

Dr. Liao receives her Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). Before joining the Siena Community, she has taught at two CUNY colleges, Queens College and John Jay Criminal Justice College. Her main fields of research and teaching include gender/sexuality, immigration, and criminology.

My Siena Experience

My Teaching Philosophy

As an educator with a diverse background, I believe that teaching and learning should be mutually informing in higher education. I view this teaching/learning process as making meaningful connections at various kinds of levels—starting from connecting with the readings, with the others around you, and finally with the social world. My goal of pedagogy is to enable students to better understand where they are positioned, connect their experiences to the larger contexts, and reach their greatest potential both inside and outside the classroom. By making these connections happen, students and I are not just learning from each other but also critically reflecting on social justice, engaging in public issues, and eventually effecting social change.

My Professional Experience

Current Research

My research interest centers on the intersections of criminology, gender/sexuality, and immigration. In particular, I study the policy ambivalence of commercial sex trade and its consequences on immigrant women of color. My dissertation, From Prostitution to Sex Trafficking: Dilemmas of Victim Service Workers Helping Chinese Immigrant Women at the Courts, interrogates the construction of sex trafficking victimhood by focusing on the case of Chinese immigrant women. My work illustrates a paradigm shift from prostitution to sex trafficking, in which anti-trafficking movements and related institutions have rendered certain social groups victims yet overlooked the immigration reality. In addition, it examines the often-overlooked roles of victim service workers and organizations regarding the issue of trafficking.