Meet Visiting Faculty Member Professor Paige Pan

GEI collaborated with International Center and invited six visiting faculty members from Nantong Vocational University to study at Cal Poly Pomona from November 2019 to February 2020. Professor Paige Pan was one of them, and here is her story. 

Professor Pan is an English/Chinese lecturer and a teaching supervisor from Nantong Vocational University. She arrived at Cal Poly Pomona eager to advance her pedagogical knowledge and improve professional methodologies in linguistic research, dissertation and publication.

“The first class I observed was Applied Linguistics given by Dr. Olga Griswold, Associate Professor of English & Modern Languages Department”, Professor Pan said, “I was impressed by the pedagogical activities elaborated by Professor Griswold, and the hands-on opportunity of being divided into groups and working on projects through group discussions and presentations. The Blackboard system at Cal Poly Pomona is very impressive; I would like to work with related teams to create a similar system when I return.” 

Besides the “Learn by Doing” philosophy, Professor Pan indicated that she was also very impressed with the opportunities to engage in various academic activities such as on-campus club seminars. One of the clubs she often participated in was the TESOL Club. “TESOL education is about Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages”, Professor Pan said, “By connecting with the TESOL instructors at the Club, we hope to invite them to China to train our faculty members of English. It’s very meaningful for us to contribute to the international academic exchanges between Cal Poly Pomona and our university.”

Because of Professor Pan’s passion for international education and academic exchange, Dr. Karen Russikoff, a Professor in the English & Modern Languages Department arranged for Pan to present on “Teaching English in Nantong City” to the English Language students in her class. 

Dr. Cheryl Wyrick, Interim Dean and Senior International Officer of the College of the Extended University and International Center, took time to greet the visiting faculty members during their stay. Dr. Sadiq Shah, Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development, also took time to congratulate the faculty members and awarded the certificate of completion in March on behalf of Cal Poly Pomona.

As a polytechnic university in China, Nantong Vocational University shares common ground with Cal Poly Pomona in valuing the Learn by Doing philosophy and application-orientated teaching practice. The academic strengths of Nantong Vocational University include Engineering, Management, and Arts and Design. Nantong Vocational University will send additional faculty members to Cal Poly Pomona to participate in academic exchange in the near future.