Dr Gaye Gould studied at the University of Hong Kong, completing the Certificate in Chinese Language, B.A. in English, M.A. in Applied Linguistics, and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in literature, sociolinguistics, and Italian opera. She is a generalist in both literature and linguistics, and has taught at HKU since 1994. From 2002 to 2007, she taught literature and linguistics at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, USA, where she was the Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Applied Linguistics, Chair of the Online Education Committee, and Coordinator of the Pakistan Educational Leadership Institute. She also holds the degree-equivalent "Diploma of the College of Radiographers" (UK). In the 1980s, she taught Diagnostic Radiography at the HK PolyU.