By Sarah R. Schwartz ’10

Victoria Huang, Ed.D., Research Fellow and Visiting Professor of the Modern Language Department, is teaching Mandarin Chinese at Arcadia University during the Fall 2010 semester. A native of Taiwan, she specializes in Adult and Continuing Education and Mandarin Chinese Teaching. She is currently conducting research on International Students’ Chinese Learning and new female immigrants’ Chinese Learning and their cultural adjustment in Taiwan.

“I know that Arcadia has one of the largest and most respected study abroad programs in the United States,” she says. “In Taiwan, I have many years of experience teaching international students and I am excited to be working with a university that shares my global vision.”

Huang earned an M.A. in Education Administration and an Ed.D. in Adult and Higher Education from the University of South Dakota. Her experience in the field of education isn’t limited to her academic pursuits. Her family owns a private high school and two kindergartens in Tainan, Taiwan, so she always had the chance to connect with the administration and teaching issues.

Having adjusted quite well to American life and culture, Huang says there’s one thing she’s still struggling with. “Coming from Taiwan, I identify myself as Asian. So understanding American intersections of race, ethnicity, class, culture and language among Asians, African Americans, Latinos and others is the biggest and most challenging cultural difference,” she says.

Huang will return to Taiwan in December and she plans to develop an online Chinese learning curriculum at Chang Jung Christian University in Taiwan. She looks forward to spending time with her family, particularly her son, Samuel.