fulbright Taiwan online journal

fulbright Taiwan online journal

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Reflections On My Time in Taiwan: Cultivating Gratitude

The pursuit of self knowledge is important to me, but it has some fierce competition from the more pressing needs like eating, exercising, and showering regularly. It’s one of those things which is always on my list of priorities, but rarely tops it. Introspection can help identify the little lies we tell ourselves and the unrepresentative experiences that tinge our memory, but it is hard. I do try to “see the forest beyond the trees”, but the trees usually get in the way. In writing this reflection, I want to share the bigger picture of my time in Taiwan. Specifically, I want to share the ways that life here has helped me to cultivate gratitude. My Journey To Taiwan When people ask why I am studying in Taiwan, I often explain that in 2019 I was inspired by an economics professor while studying abroad in Switzerland. When I realized that I would need additional qualifications in order to participate in the type of applied research which made me passionate, it was only natural to seek out a masters program overseas where I could also indulge my wanderlust. Taiwan, the program, and the funding were all aligned to my goals. When

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Irreplaceable Experience for Being a Debate Coach in Taiwan

Debate provides a unique educational opportunity that emboldens students to  speak up for themselves and others. In 2018, the Executive Yuan set the goal for the  island to be bilingual by 2030. The desire to create a populace that can fluently  communicate in English and Mandarin is quite ambitious. To aid the island reach this  goal, a Fulbright grant was created to bring debate coaches from the United States to  Taiwan to train high school teachers and students how to compete in US style debate.  This grant is the first of its kind and I am very honored to be involved.   As a debate coach and lecturer, I have introduced thousands of students and  many adults to the benefits of debate. I believe that the skills it teaches are useful  for all individuals at all stages of life. I was extremely excited when I learned that I  would be working with students and teachers all over the island of Taiwan and not   just one class. In a semester at my university I work with 26 students at a time, so  getting to work with almost 100 students I knew that I was going to be in for a unique  challenge.

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疫情下的美國行,足致豐裕

訪問機構及該機構特色: 本研究訪問單位為位於美國北卡羅萊納州溫斯頓-塞勒姆(Winston-Salem)的威克森林大學醫學院(Wake Forest School of Medicine)癌症生物學研究所林慧觀教授(Prof. Hui-Kuan Lin)研究室,進行一年期的短期研究。威克森林大學是一所

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Revisit and Create New Memories: Bring Complementary Alternative Therapies to Minnesota

The Beginning I am honored and grateful to be awarded the Fulbright Program Scholarship. Through the Fulbright Senior Research Grants, I got a chance to return to the University of Minnesota after more than 20 years of Ph.D. I feel inspired and moved by my alma mater again. Looking back over the past 20 years, after graduating with my doctorate, I returned to Taiwan to teach right away and immediately took over as the head of the department. Next, I continued to hold various administrative positions without interruption. At the same time, I had to take into account teaching, research, and service. I felt like a spinning top. Suspended, life is busy and full, but these years of consumption have made my heart extremely eager to absorb new nutrients. Although I have had the opportunity to come back here over the years, I just came and went in a hurry and did not stop there. Finally, I was able to apply for a sabbatical leave last year. I was very fortunate to receive the Fulbright Senior Scholars Grant (August 2022-October 2022), which allowed me to return to the campus to concentrate on research exchange and explore many cultural landscapes that

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The Winery Cluster in Pocono area of Pennsylvania – Analysis of Porter Cluster Theory with Kano Model

Dr. Whei-Li, Lu, Associate Professor, Chinese Culture University Dr. Stanley Chian, Professor, East Stroudsburg University  Dr. Fredrick Meitner, Assistant Professor, East Stroudsburg University  ABSTRACT The wine industry growing and contains a mix of global and small local winery producers; due to the demand for wine and high-profit return among agriculture products, the winery industry experiences competition and expansion within different tourism destinations. Additionally, the Pocono Mountain Region has developed a unique market niche in the last decade and contributes significantly to the region’s economy. However, the winery cluster in our region is not clear due to its early stage of development. Wineries try to reach out to local wine and tourism associations and government sectors. All these tasks are in progress and need to be identified for management. The current research aims to understand the early stage of the winery cluster by utilizing Porter’s clusters theory, as it has been widely used in empirical research following idiosyncratic results in explaining the winery cluster phenomenon. Kano’s model will be used to assess the attributes of Porter’s cluster theory, such as winery satisfaction, resource needs, and the importance of local government support, and community support which will help in resource allocation. The

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Cilantro Wrapped in Soft Peanut Candy: Unexpected Delight!

You come for one thing and leave with another. I’m sure that we’ve all experienced this before…maybe in a thrift store? Flea market?  Those teacups are just too cute to pass up (yes, they were next to the other kitchen wares, which are already my Achilles’ heel, but they caught my eye, and I had to have them). Maybe it’s peanut candy in Tainan (台南) when you initially were craving something salty, or a nice rain jacket when you were browsing used clothes for nothing in particular (heavens, it came in handy, let me tell ya because Taiwan was wet this winter!). But at some point or another, I feel like we all have entered some place, or some situation, with one set (or no sets!) of expectations and left that same place-situation with a different-than-expected outcome.  This miniature surprise (or maybe it’s hardly miniature, but colossal, (and maybe it’s not a surprise, but anticipated)), or turning on our heads of what we thought we could expect, changes us in some way. Maybe it catches us off guard when we discover an interest in buying many more little charms than we could ever think we needed: teacups, house plants, peanut

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美國波士頓哈佛大學暑期參訪見聞

特別感謝傅爾布萊特資深學者研究獎助金(Fulbright Senior Research Grant)以及國科會年輕學者養成計畫的支持,讓我得以於2022年5月至7月到美國哈佛大學進行為期三個月的訪問與交流。本次交換的主要目標為學習美國主動藥品監測系統Sentinel System的運作模式,以及其最新的藥品上市後安全監測方法。

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疫情下難忘的北卡溫莎之旅

訪問機構及該機構特色: 本研究計畫訪問單位為美國北卡州威克森林大學醫學院(Wake Forest School of Medicine) 癌症生物學家林慧觀教授(Prof. Hui-Kuan Lin)研究室,進行一年期的短期研究。林教授的實驗室在癌症研究發展、分子生物學、細胞生物學、基因轉殖小

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Searching for the Shared Origins of Taiwanese and Chinese Diplomacy in National Chengchi University’s Archives

I spent my time in Taiwan conducting archival research for my dissertation on the intellectual and bureaucratic development of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Republican Period to the twilight of the Cold War. My project begins by looking at the education and training of a new generation of diplomats within the Kuomintang (KMT) party system and the Republican bureaucracy, particularly those who graduated from the Foreign Affairs Department (waijiao xi) of the KMT’s Central School of Governance (zhongyang zhengzhi xuexiao).  I then follow those young bureaucrats as they entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 1930s and 1940s, deploying their newly acquired diplomatic skills and philosophies to transform the structure, functions, and orientation of the institution. Finally, I trace the rise of these individuals to positions of prominence within the two Chinese diplomatic systems, one in Beijing and the other in Taipei, during the early Cold War.  Nearly half of the Foreign Affairs Department alumni stayed in Mainland China after 1949 and this network of KMT-trained diplomats exercised considerable influence on both sides of the Taiwan Straits throughout the 1950s, the 1960s, and the 1970s.  By tracing the long arc of these diplomats’ careers, I am

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