Thursday, January 28, 2010
Organizational Science’s First Exchange Student Completes Year with Program
by Joe Allen
Yufeng “Jane” Ma, an exchange student from Renmin University of China, arrived in Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 29, 2008. She was invited to attend the Organizational Science program for a year to experience doctoral education in the United States. Ma’s main purpose in visiting was to learn about class structure and how American professors train their students.
She sought out opportunities to “Talk with professors and students to see their logic in approaching research questions.” Her motto was to “Not be shy and ask questions.” While attending various classes and activities, Ma had the opportunity to join or initiate several projects with current students at UNC Charlotte.
For example, she had an interest in studying emotional labor across cultural boundaries. This led her to collaborate with Joe Allen. They are currently working on a project looking at how emotional labor is manifested in the United States and China. Ma also connected with April Spivack and David Askay and is working on a project concerning abusive supervision in organizations.
And if that wasn’t enough work, Ma took time to develop a model for her dissertation, work on a few papers from her work at Renmin, publish one paper in a Chinese journal, and have a conference paper accepted to an international research conference in Moscow.
When asked about her experiences at UNC Charlotte, she said “American students are very patient. They always were kind and helped. My American friends are polite and seemingly empathetic to my needs.”
Even as Ma prepared to return to China, she couldn’t help but reflect on all the things she’s going to miss. “I will miss my colleagues the most. We had a good time and shared funny stories.” She also acquired a distinct affinity for American cuisine, saying “I will miss the food: macaroni and cheese, hamburgers, and pizza; and desserts like muffins, cookies, brownies, cakes, etc.”
Regarding her return to China, Ma said, “I want to stay longer to see what happens in the future. I want to be around you guys. I am really thankful to the Organizational Science program. This program is so, so, so nice. I am so, so, so happy when I am here. You guys are very, very, very helpful.” 
Where is she now…
In a letter to the program Jane wrote:
“It took me a while to get used to China. Beijing is very noisy and crowded compared to Charlotte. Even now I am still not used to it, like the bad traffic. I also saw my friends and family after my arrival. Of course, I ate a lot of authentic Chinese food.
“I was working on my dissertation and had my proposal defense on November 30. I am also working on a few projects, finished two Chinese papers … I also presented one paper at the fourth management conference in China. Now I really hope I can finish my dissertation in time. It is also a big task to apply for a job. I am working on it.
“Now I know SIOP [the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology] at Atlanta accepted one of my papers, so I am going to apply for the travel grant from my university. I am looking forward to attending SIOP in this coming April and see my dear friends there. I am also looking forward to seeing any of you guys in Beijing and show this capital city to you. Whenever I meet an American, it makes me think of you guys. I really miss you all.”
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