This Way To CSU Channel Islands

The path from Beijing, China to the campus of California State University Channel Islands is not lined with arrows and mile markers, but for Ching-Hua Wang there were signs.

Retracing her journey thus far, Wang recalls her mandated relocation to Inner Mongolia, some helpful insistence from a university recruitment official, a random email forwarded by a colleague, and a strawberry field along Pleasant Valley Road as signs that have led her along the way.

Wang joined the CSU Channel Islands faculty in 2001, and since then has served in many roles including Chair of the Biology, Geology, and Nursing programs and Director of the Professional Science Master’s (PSM) programs. She is on sabbatical this semester—her first opportunity to completely dedicate her time to research in seven and a half years—working with undergraduate and graduate students on a project that may eventually help those who suffer from neurodegenerative diseases.

“I have put a lot of effort and energy into program development and implementation. Since 2001, I haven’t had much time for anything else,” Wang explained. “This research project has provided important opportunities for our students. Some of them gained valuable experience and have been accepted into graduate and doctoral programs.”

Relocation: Destination Mongolia

Years before Wang came to the CSU system, she was creating opportunities for and learning from her students in a remote rustic village located in Inner Mongolia.

At the height of Communist China’s Cultural Revolution, the government decided that rather than sending students to high schools and colleges, they would be sent to different villages and towns to learn from farmers, carpenters, and factory workers. Wang, who was then 16 years old, and 12 others from urban China found themselves relocated deep in the countryside of Inner Mongolia with no running water, no indoor plumbing, and only cow manure to burn for heat.

“I am an adventurous person, and I looked at this as an adventure,” Wang said. “I was ready to help people and to learn from them.”

Two years into what would turn out to be a six-year residence in the village, Wang was injured and she was reassigned to teaching school at an elementary level to the villagers. Two more years passed and the Chinese government had a change of heart. It decided to reopen its universities.

Wang, along with hundreds of thousands of others, rushed to apply, hoping to be among the very few who would be admitted to one of the Chinese universities. She was denied on her first and second attempts each time having to return to work in the remote village.

“I was the last one left,” she said, “out of the 13 who were originally sent to the village together. And each time I applied, I passed all of my exams.”

That’s when the helpful insistence of a university recruitment official guided her away from a recurring road block and onto to a different route. The official had studied her file and found that decades earlier one of Wang’s distant relatives had defected to Taiwan and fled Communist China. In all of her applications, Wang had indicated that she wanted to study foreign language; however, because of her defecting relative, the Chinese government perceived her desire as a risk and had routinely denied her university admission to study foreign language.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you go to medical school?’ and I said I didn’t want to go to medical school,” Wang recounted. “He encouraged me and I realized that foreign language would be part of my education in medical school, and shortly after I was accepted into a medical school in Beijing.”

From Beijing, after earning a diploma from Beijing School of Foreign Languages, an M.D. degree from Beijing Medical College, and a master’s degree in immunology from Beijing Medical University, Wang came to the United States and earned a doctorate in immunology from Cornell University.

A Random Email and a Strawberry Field

Her experience in the Mongolian village had a long lasting effect. It fueled her desire to become part of a system that reaches out to the underrepresented populations in higher education. In 1990, Wang joined the biology faculty at CSU San Bernardino. She rose through the ranks and became the Coordinator for the MS Biology Program.

“Then I got this email from another faculty member in our department, inquiring if ‘anybody is looking for greener pastures,’ and it had a link to the announcement of a new CSU campus at Channel Islands, which was recruiting the first group of faculty,” Wang explained.

She looked into the opportunity.

“I became attracted by the mission statement,” she said. The components of CSU Channel Islands’ mission statement coincided with her past experiences, a cross disciplinary education—biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, medicine, immunology, and foreign language—and international and multicultural learning.

Wang applied for a faculty position and was granted an interview. This segment of her journey to CSU Channel Islands clearly was marked with a sign. Driving from the Inland Empire toward CSU Channel Islands, Wang exited the U.S. 101 Freeway onto Pleasant Valley Road. She drove toward the campus and saw the acres of strawberry fields and workers bent over harvesting the berries, which reminded her so much of those years farming in the Mongolian village and  teaching those she worked with. Tears filled her eyes.

“I immediately felt that the children of these people would be my students. That really touched me,” she said. “I joined the CSU because it helps the underrepresented and to help them is a calling for me.”

Shortly after her interview, she was offered the job and she came to Channel Islands to develop the biology curriculum and other programs as well as to help establish the Aliso Hall science building. She said she completely understood her responsibilities and they were very clear to her when she was hired in 2001.

“But, really I had no idea,” she said about the amount of work it was going to take. She says this in a fairly relaxed manner; however, looking at Wang one can sense her energy and enthusiasm for what lies ahead.

In the spring semester she will again lead the Biology Program and continue to enhance the University’s Professional Science Masters programs. Recently, Wang and her colleagues were recognized for their development of one of the top PSM programs in the country. For Wang the development of the PSM programs has been another brand new endeavor, but she said the national recognition of their work is a good sign for the future of the University.