appreciate that they had evaluated me as a very valuable student since they recruited me in 1989 and they had never given up the hope before they passed away.
Although I transferred my academic development to the Ohio State University in 1992, I always.appreciate many professors at Ohio University such as Prof. Ragy Mitias, Prof. George Johanson, Prof. Plophoft, and so on in the College of Education, Prof. Yin Min Wei, in the Department of Mathematics,and Prof. Water in the College of Psychology as well as Prof. Hwa-Wei Lee and Prof. Wen Jia Chen for their support of my academic career and professional development.
When I looked back the days at OU, the most important thing that I regretted was that I did not take actions for my professional development as early as possible. While examining the history of OCAPA symposia, I have found that the OCAPA Symposium 1991 was hosted by Ohio University. The President of OCAPA symposium 1991 was Prof. Hwa-Wei Lee and the Symposium Chairperson was Prof. Tiao J. Chang. I believe that I heard it but I ignored it due to those overwhelming term papers and extra commuting time. But it was always not a good excuse for losing such a wonderful opportunity like that. If I had participated in it, I would have had very productive references on my resume when I obtained my doctoral degree at the Ohio State University in 1995.
I was linked back to Ohio University in 2000 and had opportunities to meet Prof. Hwa-Wei Lee, the honorable Chair of the OCAPA 2000 Symposium and Prof. Wen Jia Chen as well as Prof. Xiao-Zhuo Chen, the Chairpersons of the OCAPA 2000 Symposium. Although I had little help for the symposium due to the geographic location, I was always concerned with the progress of the
symposium because I was one of the OU Chinese Alumni. I was impressed by the website designed by the Superyb and grassroots' actions supported by the OUCAS for the OCAPA 2000 Symposium. Thus, when the homepage of the OCAPA 2000 Symposium was ready, I was the first one to submit the abstract.
As I always believe, human's well being is socially, culturally, and environmentally constructed. For example, I did not expect that I would serve as the co-chair of the OCAPA Symposium 2002 because I planed to move to Alabama last summer. It is a sort of "Yuan" in terms of Chinese old saying. Such kind of "Yuan' embodied the integration of caring, and sharing through social and cultural networking and resulted in the "enhancement and enrichment of lives". For the upcoming symposium, the organizing committee plans to promote the academic development of the OCAPA Symposium proceedings. There are high possibilities that the proceedings will be visualized in many professions. As the organizing committee aspired, "OCAPA Symposium 2002 will be among the best received, most harmonious, and highest appreciated symposium of its kind." On the way
toward this overarching goal, I believe that another sort of "Yuan" will be created.
At the end of this letter, I would like to share some of my thoughts with our OU Chinese Alumni. We don't have to fetch the water by climbing over the mountains when the water is just beside us. Please don't lose the chance to "enhance and enrich your lives through networking among professionals" by sharing your valuable papers at the OCAPA Symposium 2002. I am looking forward to seeing your abstracts in the proceedings and learning your expertise from your presentation in Columbus, Ohio, on June 15, 2002."