| Dr. Arthur Ford Visits China as a Fulbright Senior Specialist |
12.03.12 |
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Dr. Arthur Ford, professor emeritus of English at Lebanon Valley College, recently returned from a 24-day trip to Nanjing, China as a Fulbright Senior Specialist. During his stay Dr. Ford gave a series of lectures at Nanjing University and nearby universities on topics of American Literature and his own fiction. He also consulted with members of several English departments.
Dr. Ford had served a one-year Fulbright Lectureship appointment in 1988–89 at Nanjing University and returned 23 years later to find a greatly changed China.
Before his retirement in 2001, Dr. Ford had been professor of English, chair of the Department of English, and Dean of International Programs. In addition to his earlier Fulbright appointment at Nanjing University, he also served as a Fulbright lecturer at Damascus University in Syria during 1984–85.
Arriving back in China after 23 years, Dr. Ford said he felt like Rip Van Winkle waking up and finding a vastly changed world. He said he did not recognize the city of Nanjing at all, and the university, still one of the premier universities in China, had more than tripled in size. Within the last few years it had also added a new campus on the outskirts of the city.
But he was most impressed with the changes in the students. “In 1988–89 the students at Nanjing University were brilliant but always tired from being poorly nourished,” he said, adding, “Today they are just as brilliant as I remembered, but they are happier looking and more energetic.”
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