Acknowledgements

Teaching at SUNY Cortland and developing this webfolio for continuing appointment and promotion to associate professor, especially in difficult times, are tasks best not done alone. Luckily, I have had enormous help.

First, thanks to all the crucial people at SUNY Cortland. The search committee and colleagues at the Department of Childhood/Early Childhood Education offered me the job, and persuaded me that it was worth doing; they were right. I could not have acheived this much in the last four years if it weren't for many people who have helped me since I started working here. I would like to sincerely thank the following people, meeting all of whom has been the highlight of my Cortland experience. One cannot thrive without a supportive and caring environment. If I forget to list your name here, I apologize for being an ingrate, but will learn to be more grateful if you make me aware of my mistake.

Dr. Susana Davidenko and Dr. Sheila Cohen provided the best mentorship. Together with Dr. Marley Barduhn, they motivated and supported me and Dr. Judy Bentley to apply for the Holocaust Institute for Teacher Educators (HITE) Workshop in Washington D.C. in summer of 2008. The week-long workshop turned out to be a life-changing experience. They movivated us to apply for faculty development grants, faculty research and travel grants, and spent hours editing my drafts, and celebrated every bit of my success. Marley, Susana, Sheila, and Judy, thank you for encouraging me and supporting me. Dr. Bentley's expertise in working with children with special needs is remarkable. Please keep your support and encouragement coming my way.

I would like to thank Dr. Beth Klein, Prof. Karen Hempson, and Dr. Kimberly Rombach for their mentorship. The books, lesson plans, teaching tips, and course assignments you shared are an integral part of my professional development.

I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Andrea LaChance, Dr. Cynthia Benton, Prof. Karen Hempson, and Prof. Ellen Newman for providing invaluable assistance for student advisement and faculty reappointment.

I would like to thank Prof. Judith Schillo for her friendship and support. Judith, I appreciate all your encouraging comments and pleasant dinners at your home with your boys. Please continue to share your spiritual insights and life experiences.

I would like to thank Amy Henderson-Harr for her generous hours spent on my draft proposal for the Faculty Research Program. I would like to thank Dr. Leslie Eaton, the IRB Administrator. Both of them shared insightful ideas and thoughtful suggestions to improve my research protocol. Their selfless assistance left me no excuse to not establish a research agenda. I would also like to thank Dr. Susan Stratton and Dr. Judy Ouelette for their meticulous review and edition of my FRP proposal. My application would not have taken its current shape if it weren't for the assistance from these master-minds. My heart-felt thanks also go to teachers and students who participated in my research project conducted in spring 2009.

Dr. Shufang Shi, Prof. Chris Widdall, Mr. Loren Leonard, Mr. Gerry Hill, and Mr. Chris Poole offered me their continued assistance and support in WebCT/eLearning instruction, website development, and web authorship. They are always a telephone call away to attend to my technological needs. I owe special thanks to Mr. Loren Leonard, who is behind this professional-looking webfolio, answering "emergency calls" when links do not seem to work

I am grateful for having opportunities to work for Children's Museum. I'd like to thank Dr. Emilie Kudela for her encouragement and support. I'm particularly thankful for the support of Dr. Andrea LaChance. Her grant funded many of the activities in the Children's Museum. I'm immensely grateful to Prof. Kathy Lattimore, who meticulously reviewed and edited my webfolio in great length over the years.

I would like to thank Dr. Gail Tooker, who took time to visit me and my famiy during my unpaid family leave while she was in Beijing. I'd like to thank Prof. Karl Klein, Dr. Heather Bridge, Prof. Ginger Dudgeon and Dr. Ralph Dudgeon, Mrs. Lori Crandall, Mrs. Pat Pinto, and Mrs. Barbara Conrad for their continued friendship and support.

Many thanks also to the life-long friends I made from University of Georgia. Dr. John Hoge, Dr. Yali Zhao, Dr. Masato Ogawa, and their families continue to provide academic assistance and support as mentors and research collaborators all these years. I would like to formally thank Dr. Joseph Strother and Mrs. Strother for their prayers and editing for my portfolio. You will be my English teacher forever. My friend and colleague, Grace Chang, has been a supportive collaborator for my current research concerning mainland China and Taiwan.

Most of all, I am deeply indebted to my husband, who took almost a year-long no-pay leave to be with us here in Cortland so that I could focus more on teaching, research, and service. My family in China, grandmother, my mother, parents-in-law, my brother, and my two children, whose courage, hard work, love, dignity, and cheerfulness taught me what it means to live through life and what it means to be a teacher who lives in truth and hope. I will never forgive myself for not being able to settle down in China with my children upon graduation from the United States. That was my late father's greatest wish. I have been grateful that I took a one-semester unpaid family leave to be with him in his last lingering months and hours on earth. His spirit, dedication, and committement as a father and as a high school science teacher will be with me forever.

Lin Lin

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