Professor Mary-Lynn Young has been named as the 2025-2027 McLean Family Chair in Canadian Studies in the Faculty of Arts at UBC.
Prof. Mary Lynn Young (Photo: Rachel Nixon)
Professor Young brings her expertise in journalism innovation and media transformation to the prestigious position.
In this role, she will address urgent questions about news engagement and the social value of news in Canada. Her research examines how Canadians navigate information in an era where traditional journalism meets social media influencers and political YouTube channels. This work, supported by the generous endowment of Brenda and David McLean, advances an understanding of modern Canadian media consumption.
Students and scholars are able to engage with her work through the McLean Lectures in Canadian Studies, a series of three lectures based on her research, or through her senior seminar in Canadian Studies (CDST 450).
Professor Young is a certified coach, educator, researcher and co-founder of The Conversation Canada, a national not-for-profit journalism outlet. She is a student of the curriculum of life, committed to actions that support future generations. Her professional life includes experience as a journalist in Canada and the United States, an administrator (Director, Associate Dean), professor and leadership coach at the University of British Columbia.
She has co-authored two books, including Reckoning: Journalism’s Limits and Possibilities (Oxford University Press, 2020) with Professor Candis Callison. Their book is on the recommended journalism reading list curated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.
She is completing a $2.5-million SSHRC grant on journalism innovation in 2026, co-led with Professor Alfred Hermida. The project brings together research teams across Canada, the UK and Australia to investigate how new revenue models, policy frameworks and modes of audience engagement can support informed, knowledge-based journalism.
Her scholarship has been recognized by a number of UBC awards, including the Killam Faculty Research Award in 2021.
Relevant resources
