Iris Báijīng Hubbard

Author of Switched

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, Taiwan, 2019

BAEd, Environmental Studies, Elementary Education Certificate, 2019

Iris Báijīng Hubbard is a Chinese-American adoptee from Guangzhou, China. She was adopted at about 16 months and grew up in Mount Vernon, WA. Iris became more interested in her adoptee identity while attending Western Washington University. There, she started a club for adoptees called the WWU Adoptees. Switched was inspired by her own experiences as an adoptee and competitive swimmer.

Iris’s love of teaching began in high school. It started with teaching swim and piano lessons and evolved into teaching elementary school. Iris’s interest in environmental education led her to a degree in environmental studies with a teaching certificate in elementary education. Outside the classroom, Iris was involved in creating awareness about adoptees at Western. She continued her work through her capstone project with fellow Honors student, Saige Wilde, and wrote a children’s book about her experiences as a Chinese American adoptee. Through the Fulbright ETA program, Iris was able to follow her dream of teaching abroad. Iris has also completed a master's program at the University of Eastern Finland studying early language education for intercultural communication.