"I came to OU in 1977 a couple of years after Ping was appointed the President and I witnessed tremendous change in OU.
When I first came, I worked at the old Engineering Building (now called Research and Technology Center). There was no air condition. The heating was poor with cold air leaking through the window constantly. Of course, there was no carpet. The train passed by the building regularly. I had to stop my class and take a break every time the train passed. Now we occupy a first class Stocker Center (part of it used to be a dorm).
I came to OU after the energy crisis. The long line at the gas station was still fresh. I decided to do something about it although it is not my expertise. I learned that petroleum could last only 50 years and coal will be the transition fuel before the energy problem can be solved by hydrogen fusion. Therefore I joined the coal research group. At that time, there was only 1 professor, 1 post-doctor, 1 graduate and 1 undergraduate. In ten years, it was developed into a research group of more than 10 with professors, post-doctors, graduate students and even its own secretary and technician. In the mean time, OU was converted from a teaching university to a research university.
I have to admit my most rewarding experience is my association with the Chinese students. More than half of my graduate students are Chinese. When I first came, the population of Chinese student at OU is only about 30. It was a very close group. Everybody knew very well about everybody else. We still keep in close contact today. When one of them heard about my divorce in 1997, he connected a long red-string for me to a lovely lady in Dalian China and we married the next year. With the open door policy of China, the number of Chinese students grew to around 300 in the 80's. There were so many that you could run into them in Columbus airport during the beginning of the school year. I still remember once I flew back after my summer vacation, I saw some new students and drove them all the way to Athens.
I couldn't remember how many times I was the advisor to the Chinese Student Association and the Chinese Scholar and Student Association. I am proud to be associated with both CSSA and CSA who put out excellent programs for Chinese New Year and Street Fair year after year. It has become an important part of life in Athens. In 2000, when Professor Xiao-Zhuo Chen and I organized Symposium 2000 for the Ohio Chinese American Professional Association, we got a lot of help from the Chinese students as well as Chinese alumni. For example, Dr. Yin Zhou (a student then) created the first web for OCAPA. Without them, we could not have succeeded. Dean Hwa-Wei Lee also took that opportunity to hold the first OUCAS Meeting. I think we have a very good start. I hope we will grow into an important organization and contribute back to OU."