Today’s Project 100 memory comes Tyler Jiang.  He and his younger brother were born in Boston, Massachusetts.  His parents came over from China in the 1980s in the first wave of immigrants after the United States and China reestablished diplomatic relations.  His father first worked and studied at Harvard as postdoctoral research associate and later took a job in the pharmaceutical industry.  After a decade or so in Boston, the family moved to Philadelphia when his father took a new job at the Wistar Institute.  His mother currently works in the Registrar’s Office at the American College just outside of Philadelphia.  In Boston, he attended a private PK-8 school, but he went to public school after moving to Pennsylvania, graduating from Radnor High School in the suburbs of Philadelphia in 2014.  After graduating from Rowan University in 2018, he worked for Tesla in Pennsylvania for two months while waiting for his national security clearance.   He then moved to Tampa, Florida, where he became an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at the United States Central Command.  His specialty while there was China and its role in the Middle East and Central Asia.  After one year, he left that position to begin a State Department job in the Diplomatic Security Service as a Special Agent.  Unfortunately, this position was still not a good fit.  He left after just one week and began flight school in Florida.  After completing flight school, he took a position as a flight instructor in Trenton.  In 2021, he joined Piedmont Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, where he pilots passenger jets out of Philadelphia, traveling most weeks to Charlotte, Chicago, and Canada.  In 2023, he was promoted to captain.

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I mainly chose Rowan University because I was impressed with its small average class size.  The primary alternative was Pennsylvania State University, which had many large classes.  I remember meeting with you, Dr. Carrigan, before I made my decision.  That meeting helped convince me that Rowan would indeed be a place where students and faculty could develop strong relationships right from the start.  Cost was a secondary factor.  Only one year or so before I graduated high school, Rowan University took over the School of Osteopathic Medicine where my father worked.  This meant that my tuition would be free.  My parents made it clear that they would support me if I went to Penn State, but cost did enter into my analysis.  At the time, I was also a biology major, intending to go to medical school, and it was nice that Rowan also had two separate medical schools.

I always loved history and began as a history minor.  I soon switched to a double major with biology and history.  After taking more science classes, however, I began to consider dropping the biology major.  At the same time that I was pondering this, the University announced a new International Studies major, which was of great interest to me.  I soon swapped biology for this new major, and I have never regretted that decision.   

My history classes were terrific.  There was so much variety.  I took classes on the Middle East and Africa.  I really enjoyed my Honors classes as well. I took one with you and Dr. Holbrook that combined history and biology in a way that I think is very uncommon.  I took another memorable class with Kelly Duke-Bryant that explored Africa through history and literature.  In addition to the classes, the faculty were so willing to meet and help outside of class.  I really don’t think that most other Universities would have so many faculty willing to help students in this way. I got to know almost all of the faculty well before I graduated, even those I never had in class. 

Once I transitioned out of biology, I was looking for internship experiences.  I found one at the Foreign Policy Research Institute where I worked with a Middle East expert named Joseph Braude.  We collaborated on research on the role of China in the Horn of Africa.  We published numerous articles together, but I was also able to single author a number of publications as well over my junior and senior years. 

In 2017, with the mentorship and help of Dr. Corinne Blake, I won a Boren Scholarship that allowed me to travel to Beijing to study Chinese language.  I did some research while I was there as well.  One of the more interesting moments for me while I was in Beijing came when Dr. Braude asked me to stand in for him during a scheduled television interview on the role of China in north Africa.  Thus, I found myself on television being interviewed as an expert on this important issue even though I had not yet received my undergraduate degree.

As my professors knew me so well, they were able to nominate me for several awards in my senior year.  I was very fortunate to win the Rowan University Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.  I was told that I was the first awardee outside of science and engineering to win this honor.  In addition, I won the Senior of Distinction Award for International Studies and the Gary Hunter Medallion for Excellence in History. 

My education was terrific.  The History Department in particular was so supportive and set me for success.  Even in my aviation studies, I found the critical thinking, reading, and preparation skills I learned at Rowan to be so valuable. Overall, my Rowan experience was fantastic, and I would absolutely do it again if I magically found myself graduating high school again. 

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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 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  Thanks to Laurie Lahey for helping proofread and edit the final versions.  Email carrigan@rowan.edu with questions or corrections.  You can find the Link to all of the Project 100 entries on the Web:  https://chss.rowan.edu/departments/history/alumni_highlights/project_100/