Edward Wang

Edward Wang

“So Much Change”: Edward Wang (1992) Reflects on the Transformation of the University -- Memory #44 of 100  

 

Today’s Project 100 memory comes from Q. Edward Wang.  Qingjai Wang was born in Shanghai in 1958, and raised there as well.  His parents were teachers at a vocational school where they helped train other teachers and also helped workers become literate.  He had a normal childhood but was greatly helped by his father’s mother who was important because both of his parents worked.  When he was finishing first grade, in May 1966, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution.  The schools closed for a year or two.  When school resumed, the teaching was not very rigorous, and he became bored at school.  However, he became an avid reader during this time, borrowing books from friends as well as reading those books of his family.  After he finished elementary school, he only took four years of additional education.  At the age of 17, the government sent him to a farm in the suburb of Shanghai.  He worked there for two years, continuing his reading habit, which helped his future education.  At the end of 1977, as the Cultural Revolution was now over, Deng Xiaoping resumed college entrance examinations in the country.  He passed the fierce competition and entered college at Eastern China Normal University in early 1978.  That was the first class of college students in almost a decade due to the Cultural Revolution, which disrupted the country’s higher education.  Most of his classmates were about ten years older than he was, and he learned much from them as well as from his professors about studying and advanced academic skills.  Upon graduation in 1982 with a major in history, he took another test to enter graduate study.  He began his graduate work at the same University with a focus on Western historiography.  During his graduate studies, he was fortunate to be befriended by Georg Iggers, a renowned faculty member in the study of historiography whom he met in China in 1984.  After graduating, he taught at East China Normal University for over two years, while preparing to come to the United States.  Professor Iggers not only encouraged him but also paid for him to take both the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOFL) and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) because the Chinese government did not allow its citizens to own foreign currency at the time.  He passed both examinations and came to the United States in 1987, entered the doctoral program at Syracuse with a full scholarship.  Syracuse made great sense because it owned the Leopold von Ranke Collection, and he wanted to study modern German historiography.  After passing his comprehensive examinations in May 1989, he planned to write a dissertation on the exchanges between modern British and German historians. Less than a month later, Tiananmen Square Massacre happened in Beijing. His advisor, Professor Joseph M. Levine, advised him to change his topic to the Western influence on modern Chinese historiography. This was important because the faculty at Syracuse worried that he would not be able to return to China after the tragedy.  This change proved an important one for the job market.  He took a one-year position at the University of Rhode Island in 1991 and finished his dissertation the next year.  The next year, he received three job offers.  Glassboro State appealed to him because of its location close to Philadelphia and Princeton University, and he has now been at (what soon became) Rowan University for over three decades.

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During my early days at Rowan, my mentor at Rowan University was Herbert Richardson who was a nice and reticent man. I was closest to Gary Hunter.  Gary became the chairperson when I arrived.  The administrative assistant at the time was Mona Johnson who had not had to work with foreign-born faculty before.  Gary was helpful to me during this time, encouraged me in many ways.  He noted that my teaching Western Civilization would be an important thing for students.   The teaching load was quite high at this time.  Service on University committees was also important for tenure.  Of course, I was very much interested in research.  The Department did not have much fund at this time, but I got some support from various places, especially in helping gain access to the University of Pennsylvania library from the provost office.

In 1997, I took the initiative and, with two other faculty members, co-founded the Asian and Asian American Studies program.  Later, it became the Asian Studies program. I was the Founding Coordinator of the program, and on that capacity, I began taking a leading role in introduce activities for the Asian/Pacific Islanders Cultures month. I have been doing both more or less to this day.

After Gary stepped down, I became chairperson and served three terms from 1998 to 2007.  Of the many things that I did, I am most proud of the faculty that we hired, especially William Carrigan, James Heinzen, Melissa Klapper, Emily Blanck, and Scott Morschauser.  Also, the major itself expanded greatly during my time, reaching over 500 majors.  Another highlight was my pushing for the graduate program in history, which began as I was finishing my time as chair in 2007.

Beyond Gary, two other faculty members who were important to me while I developed my career at Rowan: Cory Blake and Joy Wiltenburg. We were employed in the same year and grew together professionally. When I need help, I could always turn to them for help--Joy for example proofread my scholarly writing whenever I asked.  Cory and I worked together at committees on various leverls on campus. Denise Williams, our administrative assistant, also helped me a good deal, especially when I served chair of the department.  

I feel fortunate to have joined Rowan in 1992 when it was embarking on a game change and subsequently witnessed its major transformation from a regional school with many commuters to an actively growing research university that attracts students from all parts of the state and beyond. I am very proud of participating as well as playing a small role of myself in the changing process.

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100,” the collection and sharing of one hundred memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.