The UW Ranked #25 in World University Rankings 2013-2014

This morning, I was pleased to see that the University of Washington was ranked #25 in the world in this year's World University Rankings by the Times Higher Education! The rankings are based on each world class university's teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. Not bad, UW, not bad at all, especially considering that we're #4 among U.S. public institutions! Wohoo!

UW Logo

OTHER STATS

• #25 in life sciences
• #18 in physical sciences
• #12 in clinical, pre-clinical, and health

Feelings of pride and nostalgia washed over me as I fell prey to reminiscing about my undergraduate years as a Husky.

This evening, I shared the news with my host parents, who knows next to nothing about my [university] life in America. (To their credit, they can now distinguish between Washington state and Washington D.C.).

My host dad was impressed and high-fived me over the dinner table. He then set about pecking at his own phone screen, and eventually produced the same website I was on.

A moment later, he leaned over to me and, with a happy grimace, scrolled from the UW's 25th spot, to Seoul National University's #44th spot on the list. The happy part of his face was proud that my school was ranked 25th (this was clear), but the grimace on his face was produced upon discovering that the highest-ranking Korean school was #44 on the list: Seoul National University.

SNU's ranking is not bad at all, especially considering how the other SKY schools did in comparison.

• Yonsei University - #190
• Korea University - not on the list

Host dad pointed out Yonsei to me, and couldn't stop laughing at how far down the list it was. He translated our conversation to host mom, who was busy preparing more food just a few steps away. There were more high-fives, grimaces, and laughter as the three of us pondered the meaning of this list, of such lists in general.

As I continued to chew my food, different thoughts swirled in my head. including visions of my students studying and striving to enter the best universities in Korea, and ones of my own application for graduate schools in America.

A Very Relaxing Night After a Whole Day of Wrestling with a Research Paper

Host mom lit this candle and placed it on the floor to freshen up
the air and help ward off mosquitoes in the apartment

Officially, I have graduated from college but, until today, there was still one thing - one very important research paper - that I still needed to complete and submit to my University in order to be technically done with my undergraduate years.

Today I finally finished the last of my edits and submitted the paper, immediately falling back on my bed from mental exhaustion.

I gulped down the awful knowledge that there really is no such thing as a completed paper. Only drafts upon drafts upon [hopefully] improved drafts.

Mimi, allow yourself to be done. Let it go. Close your eyes. Sleep. 

Hours later, Seoyeon knocked on my door, and eventually lured me out of my bedroom by inviting me to a dinner of grilled chicken. I stayed up late, enjoying the chatter of my family and being warmed by their close company.

"Dare to Dream" Day: Teaching My First Lesson at Camp Fulbright

My Camp Instructor (CI) is a two-year ETA named Eric. From our first meeting, he told the group of ETAs he is working with that he is frank and straightforward, and apologized in advance for basically any hurt feelings on our end when receiving his evaluations on our lesson planning and our teaching. He explained that he would be harder on us because he believes it would serve all of us better in the long run to receive honest, constructive feedback now, as opposed to crashing and burning in our assigned schools later on because we were coddled during Orientation and Camp Fulbright. 

Everyone nodded, agreeing that very honest feedback that could potentially hurt our feelings was indeed better than planning a whole lesson plan with no one to tell us that it might actually just flop. All over the place.  

It is in his class that I taught for the first time today! Before it was my turn, I observed and evaluated another ETA teach a lesson on the same theme of "Dare to Dream." He was to pretend that the CI and I were not present in the room and conduct class as if he were the only one there. After his 45-minute lesson ended, Eric called break time and I was able to begin setting up for my turn to teach. 

FIRST TIME TEACHING AT CAMP FULBRIGHT

I was a bit nervous at first but once I got up to the front of the room, a surge of excitement overtook me and a feeling of awesome familiarity came over me as I held my lesson plan in one hand and casually wrestled with the projector's remote control with the other. 

WHAT HELPED ME OVERCOME MY NERVES

Being up there suddenly reminded me that I had done this before. Many times. In college. I am extremely grateful for the three years I spent leading Freshman Interest Groups at the University of Washington. Although I had mentored nearly all my life, the UW's First Year Programs is where I first learned to create lesson plans and it is there where I began to really hone my skills in public speaking. I would not have been as confident teaching in Eric's classroom today without the years of practice and experience I have had with FYP and FIGs. 

I taught and facilitated General Studies 199 for three Autumn Quarters: FIG 67 during the 2010-2011 academic  year, FIG 20 during 2011-2012, and FIG 67 during 2012-2013.

ANOTHER EXPERIENCE THAT HELPED ME PREPARE FOR THIS MOMENT
This past year, I have also gained more confidence in front of the classroom by designing a class on the mail-order bride industry at the University, and leading two separate Focus Groups in the Comparative History of Ideas program on the topic. Instead of working with incoming freshmen and transfer students like I did as a FIG Peer Instructor, as a CHID Focus Group Peer Instructor/Faciltator, I had the opportunity to work with upperclassmen from different disciplines who, for one reason or another, wanted to learn more about the topic.

This was a discussion-based class, and conversations about the intersections of identity
definitely fueled each two-hour class session! The top photo was taken when my
students were presenting their Final Ethnographic Projects. I had invited a few peers
and my CHID mentor to sit in. The bottom photo is my first Focus Group class
at the end of our 10-week quarter.

 But I digress.

WHY I THINK CLASS WENT WELL
Besides the fact that I was actually fiddling with the wrong remote control, I was very pleased with how smoothly the class went today. I can't attribute this to my lesson planning alone, or even my execution. So much of what went right depended on how the students received the information and participated in the class activities I had set up. It went supremely well because I had students who shouted out answers as I wrote things up on the board, mustered up enough courage to not only share but also try and interpret their dreams, and gave me energy I didn't expect they would have at 3 p.m. right after lunch and right after another ETA's lesson.

This cute sign was posted on the door of Eric's classroom. Despite its cuteness, I actually didn't notice the design
or the words until after I came out of the classroom. I was that nervous and inattentive!

There are limitations on how much I can share about Camp Fulbright, but suffice it to say that my CI was likewise very pleased. He discussed his evaluation of my teaching performance, and then gave me the other ETA's written observations and evaluations, as well as the campers' anonymous class surveys on ETA performance. I was expecting to cringe a lot during my post-teaching one-on-one meeting with Eric, but this was not the case. 

I basically floated out of that room, greatly encouraged and reassured of my path in life. I didn't have enough sleep from a night of studying and lesson planning, but I left the class incredibly energized and ready to tackle more days of teaching! 

A couple of the student campers' evaluation of my 45-minutes of teaching on the topic of "The Interpretation
of Dreams"

Hopefully, my next two classes go just as well, if not better!

MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU
Here in Korea, teaching is a highly-respected and sought-after profession. What are your views on teaching and teachers? As a student, were you ever aware of the fact that your teachers operated class based on a lesson plan? That each day had an objective, a series of activities, and a set time for each activity? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Flying From Seattle, Washington to Seoul, South Korea to Start Fulbright!

My family, the ones who will keep me going long after any journey of mine has
ended. They chilled at the airport with me until the realization of my impending
departure got to be too hard to handle emotionally. 

My precious days with my family and friends flew by irrespective of my level of preparedness.

LAST QUARTER OF COLLEGE
I had presented at the UW's 21st Annual Pacific Northwest McNair/EIP/GO-MAP Research Conference, wrapped up the CHID Focus Group I was facilitating, flown to the East Coast to participate in the 7-day Rutgers English Diversity Institute (REDI) Program, flown back to the West Coast to take my Finals after missing a whole week of classes, wrapped up my year as President of Sigma Tau Delta, attended two graduation ceremonies, applied for my visa and rushed multiple critical documents to the Institute of International Education (IIE) office in New York to finalize my Fulbright grant, written my McNair research paper, and helped inspect the rooms of over 50 of my own residents, and close down Haggett Hall for the academic year - and I had done all of this back-to-back within the span of a little under a month.

While it is not unusual to be busy during one's senior year, I had wrapped up my undergraduate career with 255 credits (75 credits over the 180 required to graduate), had done so without taking a single break from coursework for four years (including Summer Quarters), and had "finished strong" (my mantra this past quarter) with a 3.92/4.00 cumulative GPA.

Needless to say, I was fried. I looked forward to home and to being able to recuperate there without concerns over speech outlines, paper drafts, book editions, room condition reports, medical bills and post office receipts, and new officers application forms intruding upon what would amount to be an extremely short two-week summer vacation sandwiched between my graduation from college and orientation in Korea.

With Dr. Gene Kim, Associate Director of the
EIP/McNair Programat the UW. This man is one
of my best mentors and fiercest advocates at the
University. You can tell this based on his
enthusiasm as we pose with my 2013 Dean's
Medal in the Humanities.After the photo was taken, he
borrowed the medal, poppedout of the room, and, later,
was heard going from office tooffice showing it off to his
colleagues. Who can not miss this man?

MY TWO-WEEK VACATION
During this time, I managed to say goodbye to most of my academic mentors at UW, guest speak at a class on campus, do four photo shoots, enjoy a graduation picnic my family put together for me, entertain a handful of lovely friends who were able to attend said picnic, receive prayers over Skype from a couple of other friends, meet up with a few of my now-former residents who insisted on seeing me before I left, appreciate a thoughtful and tear-jerking video my sister made me for a graduation present, delightfully navigate my first-ever smart phone (another graduation present), go on a hike with and cook a Thai dinner for my best friend, learn Hangul, (the Korean alphabet), accompany my mom many times to the grocery store, and pack up a year's-worth of personal belongings in two suitcases, one carry-on, and one backpack.

HEADING TO THE AIRPORT
Before I knew it, Mama was driving me to Sea-Tac airport, Christy looked as if she was fighting back tears while at the same time trying to induce it in others, and Emily - well, Emily was actually the most well-composed out of the three of them - though she did jump and fly about inside the building, clapping her hands, and laughing gleefully at no one in particular. Her happy countenance inspired many smiles at the airport and led me to wonder whether she understood that I was going away, for a whole year.

KEEPING EMILY IN THE LOOP
I had tried to communicate this fact to her many times, saying, "Ling, Mimi going Korea! Yes! Me going! No, no, no, you can't come. Only me, okay?" She would look temporarily crest-fallen until I reminded her that she could always google "Incheon Airport." Remembering that we had a layover there a couple years ago on our way to the Philippines, she would smile and nod and confirm, "Mimi going Korea!" "Yes, yes, Mimi going Korea..." Despite how oblivious Emily seemed to my very obvious, impending departure, I know that she processes a lot more than we usually give her credit for. I know that she knows.

SAYING OUR GOODBYES
Internally and externally, I was the calmest in the family. I had forecasted earlier that there was a 70 percent chance of my mother crying, and so I steeled myself in order to avoid being swept up by the currents of her and/or Christy's emotions. I resolved, (much like I did before viewing The Passion of the Christ and Les Miserables), that I would reign in my emotions until such a time when I could express them very far away from the sight of other mortals, especially my family.

Mama and me before and after she started to realize that I was really for realz going. Everything she did for me and with
me in the three months leading up to my departure was done to show me the utmost love and care. The only reason
why I'm not also crying in the second picture is because, unlike her,I still haven't realized that I'm for realz going. 

As the eldest daughter in a family that immigrated to the U.S., I have tried to take after my mother's lead in modeling strength, especially during critical times. I figured that my presence needed to be a source of quiet strength since, according to Christy in her 20-minute video, my absence will be quite "loud."

I have so much to look forward to in this upcoming year in Korea, but I also have so much to return to back in the States.