Forging Connections Rooted in Understanding and Trust

Wen Ma, Ph.D., believes that global problems – from climate change, to poverty, to health disparities – require global solutions. What’s more, experience has taught Ma that the surest way to arrive at those solutions is by forging long-lasting connections rooted in understanding and trust. He has come to realize that building those connections means extending yourself, literally meeting other people where they are. In short, serving as a sort of diplomat. That is precisely what Ma is preparing to do.

A professor of  Le Moyne’s Department of Education, Ma will soon depart for Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where he will spend 10 months living and working as part of the U.S. Department of State’s English Language Fellows Program. The program is housed in the State Department’s Bureau of Educational Affairs (ECA), which seeks to bolster mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the citizens of other countries through educational and cultural exchanges that assist in promoting productive, peaceful relationships. 

As a fellow, Ma will contribute to the State Department’s public diplomacy goals, one of which is providing support in English language instruction. He will teach English writing and work with educators at National Sun Yat-sen University. His responsibilities there will include leading workshops centered on speaking and writing in English and leading community gatherings that will provide educators with the opportunity to share their experiences in the classroom and grow their pedagogical skills and confidence. He will undertake this critical work at one of the top three bilingual universities in Taiwan as it transitions to make English its medium of instruction, meaning that all classes will be taught in the language.

A multilingual and cross-cultural educator, Ma has conducted extensive research on Eastern educational perspectives, which are largely teacher directed, and Western ones, which are largely student directed. He has had the opportunity to work in both settings, having taught at Yantai University and Xi’an Jiaotong University in China before arriving in the United States. Now his aim is to strike the right balance between the two so that students are as engaged in the learning process as possible.