Gordon Houlden

 
Professor Gordon Houlden is Director Emeritus of the China Institute, Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Professor of the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta.
 
Professor Houlden joined the Canadian Foreign Service in 1976, serving in Ottawa and abroad. Twenty-two of his thirty-two years in the Canadian Foreign Service were spent working on Chinese economic, trade and political affairs for the Government of Canada including five postings in China. He also served at Canadian Embassy in Havana and Warsaw, and at Canada National Defence College. His last assignment before joining the University of Alberta in 2008 was as Director General of the East Asian Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, responsible for Greater China, Japan, the Koreas and Mongolia.

Under Professor Houlden’s leadership, the China Institute focused on contemporary China studies, with an emphasis on Canada’s trade, investment and bilateral relations with the PRC, and Asian security issues. His third co-edited book on the South China Sea was published in the summer of 2021 by Bristol University Press.

Professor Houlden has taught multiple courses on China at academic institutions, as well as for federal and provincial governments. He has also conducted research for both governmental and private institutions.