方凯丽 Carrie

Before?joining?the?EDD?program,?I?worked?for?three?years?in?an?international?school?and?was?responsible?for?foreign?affairs,?Canadian?curriculum?management,?and?liaison?for?the?school?interactions?with?local?government?agencies?and?bureaus.?For?the?next?two?years,?I?worked?as?a?teacher?in?China?and?abroad.?Later?on,?I?submitted?my?application?for?the?doctoral?program?to?Wenzhou?Kean?and?was?accepted?with?a?full?scholarship.

While?studying?at?Kean,?what?has?impressed?me?the?most?is?the?professor’s?willingness?to?help?you.?I?will?share?a?true?story?that?demonstrates?these?impressions.?Nothing?conveys?a?message?better?than?a?story.?The?word?“story”?has?a?story.?In?a?yoga?class?organized?by?the?school?not?long?ago,?the?yoga?master?explained?that?the?essence?of?life?is?a?story.?So,?back?to?the?topic,?my?story?is?that?I?was?unsuccessful?in?applying?for?a?research?assistant?position?in?my?first?semester,?but?I?noticed?that?the?professors?were?looking?for?students?with?data?analysis?skills,?which?I?did?not?have.?Although?I?know?my?shortcomings,?due?to?my?inability?to?adapt?to?the?environment?in?the?first?semester?and?the?uncertainty?of?my?future?research?direction,?I?didn’t?know?where?to?start.?All?I?could?do?at?that?time?was?take?classes?and?complete?homework.?However,?I?didn’t?want?my?EDD?project?to?end?like?this.?

At?that?time,?I?rarely?communicated?with?professors?because?I?didn’t?like?to?cause?trouble?to?others.?Fortunately,?I?gradually?noticed?that?professors?are?very?receptive?to?students?coming?to?them?to?share?their?thoughts?or?concerns.?Subsequently,?at?the?end?of?the?first?semester,?I?went?to?the?professor’s?office?to?talk?about?summer?vacation?arrangements.?I?saw?two?books?related?to?data?analysis?lying?on?the?coffee?table.?These?were?two?super?thick?and?heavy?books?that?I?will?never?forget,?Discovering?Statistics?Using?1?&?2?by?Andy?Field.?At?that?time,?I?asked?the?professor?if?he?could?lend?me?these?two?books?for?the?summer.?The?two?professors,?Dr.?Noman?and?Dr.?Ja,?agreed?enthusiastically.?It?was?at?that?time?that?I?entered?the?world?of?data?analysis.?In?the?following?semesters,?I?kept?in?communication?with?Dr.?Noman and?reported?what?I?had?recently?learned.?I?did?not?expect?Dr.?Noman?to?give?me?a?significant?volume?of?data?and?ask?me?to?do?a?structural?equation?model?analysis,?but?he?did.?During?the?analysis?process,?Dr.?Noman?provided?a?lot?of?guidance?and?encouragement.?During?the?process,?I?also?joined?the?team?of?research?assistants.?I?am?grateful?to?Dr.?Noman?for?trusting?that?I?could?take?on?such?a?challenge.?Because?of?this?trust,?I?am?now?able?to?participate?in?multiple?research?projects?and?have?become?motivated?to?conduct?research.