Fulbright: The Teaching Half

September 21, 2010

So, half of my Fulbright involves teaching and the other half is clinical research. The teaching part involves my teaching a couple classes per semester at HELP University. One class is a large lecture with 150 freshman undergraduate students. The other class is a small class with 9 Clinical Psychology masters students. Both classes are on Research Methodology in psychology.

After a lot of heated negotiation with the department heads (and involving the president and more, in the background it seemed), I settled on being willing to teach 2 classes per semester. Not a big win on my part since I only wanted 1, but I was able to negotiate that I did not have to supervise any undergraduate or masters theses. I negotiated hard since teaching can easily take over your life, leaving clinical research by the wayside. They were perfectly polite and e-smiling through the entire negotiation while also barely budging an inch. From their end, I think they were girding themselves for the arrival of a hard negotiating New Yorker.

When I arrived at HELP for the first time, I was welcomed warmly, all negotiations going unmentioned. The ones in charge, as in department head and dean, are male. The majority of professors who teach are female. I was taken out to lunch by the female professors, all feeling overworked but joking about it. They barely have any time for research, themselves. And, I'm learning that it's hard to get clinical psychology professors to work there in a country with only about 70 or so clinical psychologists. But, still, the high turnover of clinical psychology professors in the department gives pause. In the end, Asia has a reputation for working its professors so hard that none can get any research done.

Then, the dean, a psychology professor with an anti-bullying program, invited me, the kids, and Ken out with his family who has a daughter Alice's age and a toddler -- you saw pictures in our blog when they came over for a "pool party" at our house. His family is now planning on having us spend the night at their place in a month, after their 7 year old passes a series of upcoming tests. They have been repeatedly generous in hosting us in ways that have stopped me to think. I can't remember ever welcoming a foreigner at our institution or neighborhood the way they have me. It's made our transition feel so much warmer that I now have a new standard for how much less alone a foreign family would feel if I just made a little effort to host them.

The picture above is taken with Alice's blurry camera, right after mine broke. It's of the President of HELP University (far left), his wife, the CEO, the Senior Vice President, and the head of Human Resources. I was so honored to be asked to meet with the president, right after they got me an official work visa. In the US, it's a rare moment that a new professor would ever have a special meeting with the president. Then, my teaching assistant told me that he met with the president too. Everyone does. The President doesn't like hierarchies, and he insists on meeting everyone before they are hired, and often after.

Still, the meeting made me feel very VIP, anyway. They both presented their business cards to me in a uniquely Malaysian style -- placed flat on their hands like they were holding the business cards like a fragile tray. I, of course, had no business cards which makes you feel professionally naked here. I gave him Cadbury chocolates. Now, I have business cards with a big fat "Fulbright" on them. I was also surprised to have the President give me his card, if that makes sense. Like having President Obama give you his card, in case you weren't sure what his name and contact information were.

The president really liked talking about issues worthy of debate, with a softly sardonic questioning style. Like, he said no one thought they needed psychological help, here, until psychologists came along. Everyone just used to go to their imam, priest, or pray to Buddha, feeling better afterwards as the incense carried your worries or wishes up and away during prayer. They were very interested in what work Ken did, and he said he and his wife would eat a meal with me and Ken sometime.

The university is largely populated by Chinese Malaysians, and some Indian Malaysians, and peppered with expats from some other countries -- Zimbabwe, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, and Austria, are some in my class. They often seem to be using this university as a stepping stone to get to a western university, in Canada or the US. Why are there largely Chinese Malaysians and some Indian Malaysians, when this country is 60% Muslim Malaysian? Where are all the Muslims in my classes. Well, I have a few, but here's the story I was told...

The public universities save the majority of spots for Muslim Malay students, and any non-Muslim Malay professors have little chance of getting a public university professorship or, if they got one, have little to no opportunity to rise. So, the Chinese Malaysian President of HELP had been a professor in the public university system, but he was tired of the limited opportunities for him, so he started HELP Univ. as a private university, since private universities do not limit most spots for Muslim Malays. Since then, HELP University has taken off, and it's even on the Malay stock exchange. That was a shocker to me since I don't know any academic institutions traded on the US stock exchange. It changes the entire academic field when you're a commodity that's being traded. One of Warren Buffet's subsidiaries recommended HELP as an investment, and its stock recently skyrocketed.

The class with 9 clinical students is softspoken but lovely and interactive, but I get pretty nervous before teaching the class of 150 students, and I'm wiped out afterwards. I teach it in a large auditorium with a microphone for 3 hours (!!!). Whew. I woke up every hour on the hour last nite, on edge with the big class being today. Over time, it's gotten somewhat easier since I've developed a relationship with them and they feel more comfortable being more responsive and interactive in class. My big concern had been that they wouldn't give me the subtle cues (not so subtle in NYC) that some information I'd be lecturing them on was confusing. I still think they see it as rude to let me know if they don't understand what I'm saying, but I'm getting better at reading it. And, I've packed my lectures with activities to both kill time (Monty Python clip!) and to make it more interactive, like a debate over whether or not day care if bad for kids. They are very very very worried about getting a good grade.