Resident Professor of
International Economics Paul Armstrong-Taylor reflects on what makes HNC a special
place. Professor Armstrong-Taylor teaches courses on Comparative Economics,
Economics of Strategy, Financial Crises, and Corporate Finance. Prior to coming
to the Center, he worked at Morgan Stanley, Monitor Group and Shanghai Jiaotong
University. He earned his PhD in Economics from Harvard University, and his BA
and MPhil from Cambridge University. He is British. And, most importantly, he
has been voted the three time winner of the best laugh at HNC award.
This year's students have just graduated and this is always
a time of mixed feelings for me: on the one hand, there is pride at seeing my
students complete their studies successfully; on the other, a sadness that they
will be leaving soon and that I will not see many of them again. It is also a
time of reflection on my experiences at HNC and what makes this such a special
place.
While our academic program is very strong (as any perusal of
the backgrounds of our faculty or success of our alumni will attest to), for me
HNC's unique strength is its community. There
are about 200 faculty, staff and students at the Center who all live, eat, and
sometimes play together. This allows us to know each other in a way that is not
possible at most other institutions.
As an example, four years ago I cofounded the Migrant Student Learning Initiative (MSLI) with Angela Chang (then a Master's student, now HNC Academic Coordinator). MSLI gives opportunities for Chinese and international student pairs to teach English to children of migrants or rural residents who are both poor and excluded from the mainstream urban schools.
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| Stronger Together: HNC Students Teaching at Bainian |
Currently we work with the Bainian Vocational School in
Nanjing. This school is special because it is not only educates students, but
also places them in jobs at top hotels in Nanjing. Teaching English is not an
academic exercise here – students need these skills and we feel we can have a real
impact on their future career.
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| Not all work: Thriller Dance at Bainian Halloween Party |
For the volunteers too, there are real benefits. Our
students work in pairs of international and Chinese students to co-teach classes.
This has turned out to be a great strength: international students may have
better knowledge of colloquial English, but Chinese students understand the
challenges of learning English as a second language. The combination is more
effective than the parts: an excellent example of the culture of the Center.
MSLI is far from the only example of interactions between
international and Chinese students, and between faculty and students at the
Center. At least in my experience, this is a special and very rewarding feature
of our community.
