Kiera Blake – Special to the Southern News
Transitioning from studying English with little background in Women’s Studies to a director position in Southern Connecticut State University’s Women’s Studies department with a drive for justice, Professor Tricia Lin keeps busy.
“I look at women’s studies work as ultimately a tiny piece of a much larger vision we have for this planet,” Lin said. “My work is my life.”
Much of the “work” that Lin mentions is in reference to her social activism immersion, which Lin found home during her own collegiate career while still in her birth country of Taiwan.
Prior to working in New Haven, Lin worked in the English and Ethnic Studies departments at the Borough Manhattan Community College, part of the City University of New York.
Later on in 2004, SCSU extended an invitation to Lin, who had spoken for events on the campus before, asking that she become the interim director for women’s studies as well as an associate professor. She accepted the offer, citing it being an “attractive position” as the reason.
Since then, Lin went from being an associate professor to full-time in 2008 and has spent nine years as director. This is still surprising to her today.
“Many years ago, I hated teaching,” said Lin. “Today, I can’t imagine a life without teaching. I learn from my students all the time.”
Born Yi-Chun Lin to an “island-wide network” of family members in Taiwan, Lin grew up in a seven-member, three-generation household. Lin is a 17th-generation Taiwanese daughter of the family.
When thinking about the usual traveler’s culture shock moving from a traditional countryside in Taiwan to New York, Lin said the amount she experienced was not much. She credits this to having “studied English and American cultures for over half [of her] life.”
“The world we studied [at National Taiwan Normal University and Tamkang University] was largely about men – white, European men were writing these stories,” Lin said. “I got to read a few from women, but it was largely men.”
While she was in school for her doctorate’s degree in comparative literature, she began looking into writers who were women of color in her spare time outside of the classroom to offset the “very white” literature she had read over time. This was reflected in her dissertation, which came to be wholly centered on Asian-American female writers and their contributions to literature.
Describing herself as a “petite Asian woman who isn’t afraid of confrontation,” Lin is now very socially active. Not only is she a director and a professor, but she is also presiding over the country’s National Women’s Studies Association as president for the 2012-2014 term, as well as having worked with the recent Title IX conference regarding university procedure for sexual harassment towards students.
Lin has also worked with the African American Women’s Summit in 2007, as well as the Perfect Blend’s Legendary Women Organization. She said that she works a lot with the black community since they’re the largest minority group in the city, and while she continued to say it seems odd to other people, she is confident that “we share a lot together though we are different.”
Growing up in a packed home, her and her three younger siblings are now “all scattered.” While Lin lives in the United States, her youngest brother and younger sister remain in Taiwan; the youngest sister, New Zealand. She also has two nieces that visit, but she otherwise lives alone. This does not bother Lin, however.
“Everybody is my family. I find solidarity in my colleagues,” Lin said. “I live with my dreams and ambitions, working for justice and truth.”
