fireside chat

The faculty who was hosting the fireside chat was Professor John S.W. Park, who is Chair and Professor of Asian American Studies and an affiliated faculty member in Sociology. I am glad that I participated in that fireside chat because Professor John Park will be teaching me Asian American Study 2 in the upcoming fall and it certainly was a perfect opportunity to know more about my professor. I was relieved to know that he is a pretty kind person, with a mild smile hanging on his face all the time. He speaks gently, with a modest tone willing to face reasonable criticism, without even a slightest trace of condescendence. I like him.

At first he talked about UC Santa Barbara and himself. From that I had a better and deeper understanding towards what one can get out of this university and under what kind of situation one will make a decision to choose UCSB to continue one’s career.

What surprised me from his talking is that Professor John Park is one of the few persons I know that is truly dedicated to pursue his academic interest. In another words, he belongs here. To true scholars like Professor John Park, doing research is probably the most exciting thing in the world and they will definitely choose to stay in university to pursue their academic interest rather than take a vacation and relax. Their true love for research amazed me.

Then he talked about his own experience as a student and his advice for us. To truly enjoy our time in university and open up our eyes to embrace the unlimited possibilities and think about who you really are and what you really want to do. What he said definitely gave me some ideas towards my plan during the next four years.

I’m really looking forward to be his student in fall.