Shawyn Domyancich-Lee

Shawyn
Domyancich-Lee

(They/Them)
MSW Program Director & Associate Professor of Social Work
Human Behav, Justice & Divsty
Social Work
Email:
Office: Swenson Hall 3139

About

Dr. Shawyn Domyancich-Lee (they/them) is the MSW Program Coordinator and Associate Professor in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

As a Korean adoptee, Shawyn’s scholarship takes a critical approach to examining the historical origins of Korean adoption within the context of mid-century Cold War America. Their research analyzes the roles of the United States and South Korea in the mass removal of hundreds of thousands of Korean children during the 1950s and 60s, and the implications on subsequent intercountry adoption practices and policies. Framing this “child-saving” scheme within gendered, political and Eurocentric positionalities, Shawyn’s research situates Korean adoption as a political maneuver that sacrificed Korean children and their families for the purposes of American nation-building.

Given this troubling history, Shawyn also explores attachment and adoption, focusing on historical and intergenerational trauma and attachment, and attachment in close personal relationships. This has opened avenues into place-based attachment, especially as it relates to people’s connections to physical and natural place and space and notions of “home.” From this, Shawyn created and taught place-attachment-centered environmental justice courses in social work programs and in transdisciplinary sustainability courses across a variety of majors.

Additionally, Shawyn has used place attachment and place-based education methods in faculty development in their role as Sustainability Faculty Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

As a whole, Shawyn’s research and teaching embody critical scholarship and justice-based pedagogies that de-center problematic dominant narratives and paradigms. Using student-centered, place-based teaching and learning models, Shawyn works to help communities of learners and practitioners engage in the symbiotic relationships between self, others and place to co-create meaning, story and empowerment-backed praxis to lift voices, identities and experiences often left in the margins.

Shawyn has published and presented on their teaching methodologies and scholarship in academic journals, books and international media; on local and international podcasts; and at state, regional, national and international conferences.

When not in the classroom or curiously perusing academic literature, you can find Shawyn on their bike in the woods, on the water in their kayak, or roaming around doing wildlife photography and adding lifers to their birding lists.

Publications

  • Simon, K. A., Sumontha, J., Blankenau, A., Domyancich-Lee, S., Farr, R. H., Kim, A. Y., & Lee, R. M. (2024). Adoptive parents’ racial colorblindness and adopted Korean adolescents’ experiences of discrimination. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000695
  • Domyancich-Lee, S. C. (2021). The yin & yang of belonging: A phenomenological study of adult Korean adoptees’ attachment styles in romantic relationships. Adoption Quarterly, ahead-of-print, 25(4), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926755.2021.2005729
  • Domyancich-Lee, S. C., Cleeland, L., & McCleary, J. (2021). Comics in the classroom: Teaching with graphic novels. Journal of Social Work Education, 58(3), 579-585. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2021.1942353
  • Domyancich-Lee, S. C. (2020). Another kind of R & R: An historical analysis of the Camptown Clean-Up Campaign and the reinforcement & regulation of camptown prostitution in South Korea, 1971-1976. Journal of Mental Health & Social Behaviour, 2(2), 126-131. https://doi.org/10.33790/jmhsb1100126
  • Lee, S. C. (2020). Social work and social media: Organizing in the digital age. Journal of Public Health Issues and Practices, 4(1), 158-163. https://doi.org/10.33790/jphip1100158
  • Lee, S. C. (2020). Mother America: Cold War maternalism and the origins of Korean adoption. In F. S. Topor (Ed.), Ethical standards and practice in international relations (2nd ed.). IGI Global.
  • Lee, S. C. (2019). 30 years later, this Korean adoptee finds ‘home’ again. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-01-30/30-years-later-korean-adoptee-finds-home-again
  • Lee, S. C. (2019). For many, international adoption isn’t just a new family. It’s the loss of another life. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-02-08/many-international-adoption-isnt-just-new-family-its-loss-another-life
  • Lee, S. C. (2018). Mother America: Cold War maternalism and the origins of Korean adoption. In F. S. Topor (Ed.), Ethical standards and practice in international relations. IGI Global.
  • Lee, S. C. (2015). The Father of the fatherless: How Cold War American religiosity sentimentalized and politicized overseas adoption from South Korea, 1953-1961. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 24(1), 26-39. https://doi.org/10.1179/1053078915Z.00000000021
  • Fisher, C., Lee, S. C., Dimock, P., Simmelink, J., & Rohovit, J. (2014). Treatment of Co Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders: Preparedness of Social Workers and Alcohol and Drug Counselors in Minnesota. Research Brief No. 1 (January, 2014): Minnesota Center for Mental Health, University of Minnesota.

Awards

  • 2025 – UW-River Falls Paul B. and Robert Dykstra Faculty Excellence Award
  • 2024 – Inclusa Foundation. Nature-based interventions for older adults to foster social connectedness and improve mental health.
  • 2023 – UW-River Falls Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff Professional Development Grant
  • 2023 – UW-River Falls Keith Wurtz Award for Teaching Excellence

Education

  • 2016 – Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) – Social Work, University of Minnesota
  • 2006 – Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) – University of Minnesota
  • 2005 – Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.) – St. Thomas University