The Tao is Up

As a religious studies scholar, I have taught the early Daoist philosophical work, the Zhuangzi 莊子, many times–at Swarthmore, Barnard/Columbia, and the University of California, Riverside.  At one point, the text advises the reader to “Leap into the Void and make it your home!”  In the coming months, I will be doing just that as I (and my husband) embark on what promises to be a great challenge and grand adventure.  I have just accepted the position of founding dean of Yuanjing Academy 远景學院, Yitong College 移通學院, in Chongqing, China.  Although the Yuanjing Academy is already home to its first class of eager students and enthusiastic and hard-working teaches and administrators, the dean’s position has been vacant until now.  For me, it is a great leap into the unknown but it’s made with boundless hope and excitement about what might be accomplished.  I plan to use this site to record my observations as I and my colleagues chart this new path in global higher education.