I am a professor by inclination and training. Throughout my teaching career across a number of different countries over a long time span, I have taught various subjects in the fileds of social and political sciences and humanities, including:

1. Initroduction to Sociology (in the United States)

2. Introduction to Philosophy (In the United States)

3. Comparative Politics (in Sweden, taught in the English language)

4. American Government (in China, taught in the English language)

5. American Political Thought (in China, taught in the English language)

6. World History (in the United States)

7. American History (in United States)

8. English Composition (in Canada)

9. English as a Second Language (in China and Sweden)

(If you need a copy of syllabus for any of the above courses, please contact me.)

I'm currently teaching a few sections of An Introduction to Sociology and An Introduction to Philosophy at ASA College in New York City, in spite of the busy schedule as the Chairperson of Arts and Sciences Division.

My Important Tasks as an Academic Chair

From 2010 until 2016, I served as the Assistance Chairperson of the Arts and Sciences Division at ASA College. Since 2016 until present, I have been worknig as the Chair.

1. Improve faculty teaching -- For many faculty members, it is easier to become a scholar than a teacher. But the central role of faculty at any higher education institution is to teach.

2. Promote the scholarship of faculty -- To catch up with new knowledge and be able to use new technology, faculty members should be encouraged to do research and publish their research results.

3. Help new faculty get oriented -- High quality faculty is the greatest asset of any academic department. It is therefore essential to attract capable, committed people into acdemia and train them to be highly qualified professors.

4. Foster a frendly environment -- For faculty members to be more productive and committed to teaching, attention should be paid to interpersonal relationships among faculty members. Efforts should be made to resolve personal issues.

Q&A about My Work

Q: What do you think is the most important attribute as a good college professor?

A: For me, passion for teaching is the most important quality. If you don’t love teaching, or if you don’t like being with students, you will never become a good professor. Of course, there are many other important qualities and attributes, such as good pedagogical techniques, strong commuication skills, effective classroom management strategies, and soclid knolwedge of the subject matter.

Q: What do you think are the most important attributes as a scholar in academic research?

A: An enquiring mind and critical thinking abilities are the most important. Others include persistence, open mindedness, self-reliance, and very strong English writing skills.

Q: What do you think are the most important attributes as a good academic chair?

A: The ability to foster an enviornment for all faculty which promotes good and effective teaching is the most imporant. A good academic chair also needs to be a good manager. Thus, he or she must be a good communicator, well organized, pay attention to details, be aware of every faculty member's strengths and weakness especially when it comes to do scheduling.

Q: You have lived in different countries/cultures across four continents. Do you believe that you have benefited from your life experience as a college professor?

A: Absolutely. I was born and brought up in the Chinese culture, where I developed my belief and value systesms and established my identity through many years of socialization. When I first arrived in Australia, which is a western culture, I experienced a huge culture shock, which forced me to rethink about almost everything I had learned. I found myself deeply thinking about the cultural, social, and political differences, and their respective strengths and weakness. As I was exposed to more different cultures and socieites and gained more experience in those different countries, I did more comparative studies, collecting data not only through long terms observations but also surveys. Over the years, the research and my personal life experience have given me a huge advantage as a professor, especially when it comes to teaching Sociology, Comparative Politics, and World History. For one thing, it is so much easier to introduce my students to different cultures because I can use examples taken from my personal experience, which are obviously vivid and more convincing. This is especially true in America, where cultural diversity, equity, and open-mindedness are the conerstones of education and society. My success as a professor is also reflected by my students' excellent evaluations, which they do every semester of all their professors.

Q: Can you describe and explain in more detail your teaching philosophy?

A: As a college professor who has taught various subjects, I have slightly different approaches to teaching different classes. However, I would like to give you an idea what I believe to be the most important in my Philosophy class.

As a college professor who has taught introductory level philosophy courses for many years, I strongly believe in the importance of college students’ developing critical thinking skills. Such skills are not only crucial to their intellectual development and academic success, but also very important and necessary in their future careers. Every professor in a philosophy class should list critical thinking skills as a major objective in the syllabus. In my philosophy class, when it comes to discussing a philosophical question or argument, I follow four steps: 1. Present and explain both sides of the argument to emphasize that there are always two sides to any argument and we should never take anything for granted; 2. Let students challenge or defend each side; 3. Ask them to formulate and articulate their own opinions in writing or oral presentations; 4. Require them to cite real life examples to support and defend their opinions so as to be more persuasive. To create an environment conducive to the critical thinking process, I adopt the so-called Socratic Method, which I believe is most useful in fostering critical thinking abilities. Using this method is not only essential to learning argumentation but also beneficial to developing skills in communication and problem solving.

To help achieve the purpose of developing critical thinking skills, I devote considerable amounts of time to teaching and discussing eastern philosophy because I believe students will develop more balanced worldviews by learning and comparing both western and eastern philosophies. Unlike some Philosophy classes where eastern philosophy is only touched upon towards the end of the semester, we discuss it in almost every chapter throughout the course. Doing so is not only due to my own cultural backgrounds but also because I strongly believe that a philosophy class should take the responsibility of raising awareness of diversity and fostering open mindedness in our students.

When it comes to teaching style, it is my belief that the best college professor is the one who is able to use simple language to explain complicated concepts with real life example so that his or her students, regardless of their backgrounds, can clearly understand the lectures. This is particularly true with philosophy, a subject which many students find daunting largely due to its many complex concepts. In my philosophy class, seldom do my students find me using big words or extremely long and complex sentences in lectures. This principle is also adhered to in my writings when they are intended for student use. For me, only when students fully understand and grasp a concept can they do critical thinking and develop intellectual sophistication. “Random Thoughts in Philosophy”, for example, is a book that I wrote in the simplest language possible to supplement the philosophy textbook which is usually boring and difficult to read for many students.

My assessment of student learning outcome in a philosophy class is therefore largely based on the student’s ability to do critical thinking, whether it is to think about a philosophical argument or a real life problem. I make it clear to students that I will have four questions in mind when grading their essays: 1. How did you reasonably and rationally challenge certain philosophical argument or defend it? 2. Did you clearly articulate your own argument? 3. How did you make your argument more powerful and persuasive? And finally, 4. Is it a good piece of writing? Of course, whether the student has actively participated also plays an important role in my assessment.

Question: I am planning for a short trip to Rome. I know you wrote a world history book. Can you enlighten me about the history of Rome?

Answer: It would be impossible to narrate the Roman history here. If you are interested, please read my book "Essentials of World History". However, I would like to copy and paste a small passage here, just to give an idea how the ancient Roman culture borrowed heavily from the Green culture.

"When the Romans came to dominate the Greek city-states, they found a culture that was much more advanced than theirs. The less cultivated Roman minds were immediately captivated. The admiration for Greek culture urged the Romans to absorb it in many ways, sometimes by force. Large numbers of Greek manuscripts and artworks were shipped back to Rome. Rich Romans hired Greek tutors and sent their sons to Athens to study. They borrowed from the Greeks as they had earlier borrowed from the Etruscans. The result was long lasting—a Greco-Roman culture was created.

As a result of the admiration, the Greek became the language of high culture. Latin became the language of administration and always remained the language of the army. All educated Romans were bilingual. Rich children grew up to read the Greek classics and drew from them their standards.

Initially, the Romans did not have literature of their own. It was in the third century B.C.E. that the Latin literature emerged. But it was also strongly influenced by Greek models. The high point of Latin literature was reached in the age of Augustus, often called the golden age of Latin literature. Rome’s most distinguished poet of the Augustan age was Virgil (70-19 B.C.E.). His masterpiece was the Aeneid, an epic poem similar to those of Homer in style. Even its story tries to establish a link between Roman civilization and Greek history. The poem describes how Aeneas, a hero of Troy, survives the destruction of the city and eventually settles in Latium, Italy.

In arts, the Romans obtained inspiration from the Greeks. They loved Greek statues and would transport them from Greece and placed them not only in public buildings but also in their private houses. To be sure, the Romans carved their own statues, but they were basically modeled on those of the Greeks.

Architecture was one of the few things in which the Romans were sure they were better than the Greeks. They were famous for making use of curvilinear forms: the arch, vault, and dome. In construction, the Romans were the first people in antiquity to use concrete. They would construct buildings with marbles outside but concrete inside. Huge buildings were built, such as public baths, the Colosseum, and amphitheaters, some of which were capable of seating fifty thousand spectators. The famous Roman gladiatorial shows took place at the Colosseum. The Roman engineering skills not only made these large buildings possible, but were put to use in constructing roads, aqueducts, and bridges. The English saying, “All roads lead to Rome”, is no exaggeration. It was a network of 50,000 miles of roads that linked all parts of the empire. Some of the roads still exist today."