Home: Shenzhen, China
Born and raised in China, Qijuan Fang is a second year Clinical Psychology grad student at UNI. This year she has taken on the challenge of teaching Introduction to Psychology at Hawkeye Community College. “I have taught in Chinese before, but teaching a class in English was exhausting and challenging at first,” said Qijuan. “Now that I am used to it, I am enjoying it a lot. It is very satisfying to teach students new material, and especially teaching them the subject I am enthusiastic in.”
In her thesis, Qijuan’s is comparing suicidal resilience factors in Chinese and American college students. According to Qijuan, suicide among young people in China is becoming a more serious problem and she would like to help Chinese students develop skills to help prevent this growing occurrence. Over the summer, she conducted her pilot research in her hometown at the Shenzhen University.
Qijuan is active in the UNI Chinese community and is the Secretary of the Chinese Student and Scholar Association. The group provides Chinese students a social network and a place to promote Chinese culture to Americans.
Asked what she liked best about living in Cedar Falls, Qijuan said “people are friendly here and I enjoy the quiet environment and sweet corn a lot.” When asked what she found surprising in the United States, she smiled and said “People here eat bananas from the opposite side when compared to the Chinese.”
