Bio

Writer | Contributor (2023- Present): Since retiring from teaching in 2023, Catherine Jo Ishino has become a regular contributor to the national Japanese Canadian newspaper, the Nikkei Voice, in Toronto http://nikkeivoice.ca/?s=catherine+jo+ishino. Her articles on JC cultural events have also been picked up and reprinted in Discover Nikkei, an online project of the Japanese American Historical Museum in Los Angeles https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/author/ishino-catherine/.

Her writings have been impacted by attending the 50th Commemoration marking the Incarceration of her grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles (along with over 120,000 other Japanese Americans) in Poston, Arizona in 1992. Ishino researched, wrote, lectured, and created video oral histories and installations about her relatives’ experiences during World War Two. (https://catherineishino.org/, portfolio, oral histories, video, installation)

Academic teaching (1998-2021): Ishino also taught design at George Brown College (2009-2011), York University (2008-2021) and the University of Minnesota (1998-2008). Her research focus was on the Western stereotyping of East Asian design. Her teaching focus was creating socially responsible design and preparing students to become citizen designers. (https://ishinoportfolio.com/, Course Blogs)

TV News Designer | Art Director (1981-1994) Before her academic career, Ishino worked in broadcast news serving as the Art Director of The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour at PBS, Creative Director and Consultant for independent video productions and Lead Artist at CNN. (https://catherineishino.org/, portfolio, video) Catherine garnered a National Emmy and Peabody award for her art direction on The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.

Updated: July 13, 2024. CJI