All six 2013-15 Chinese Flagship Program students—Mac Carr, Briun Greene, Tina Li, Mack Lorden, Nick Pochedly, and Joel Poncz—got an unexpected working vacation in early January as guests of China’s Haier Corporation, the world’s most recognized brand of Chinese consumer electronics. Haier invited the entire Flagship Program to Las Vegas to advise them on marketing to American consumers at the Consumers Electronics Show, one of the major trade shows on the planet.

“This was a great opportunity for our students to work with a significant Chinese organization on a real-life and real-time problem,” Professor of Chinese and Flagship Program Director Galal Walker said. Walker; Mr. Xuezhou Yu, visiting faculty member; and Ms. Sunny Zong, program director, accompanied the students.

It was a whirlwind trip and the timing, weather-wise, was perfect. They arrived in Las Vegas on January 6, spent January 7 working with Haier, and returned to Columbus on January 8, missing the Arctic blast that closed the university for two of those days.

Ohio State’s Advanced Chinese Language and Culture (Flagship) Program in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (DEALL) is an intensive two-year MA program for the advanced study of Chinese that prepares Americans to successfully work in China-related careers. It has an exceptional track record of producing students who do just that.

FLAGSHIP STUDENTS: AN ELITE, DIVERSE GROUP BOUND BY THEIR LOVE FOR CHINA

Mac Carr, BS, Mathematics, Boston College; Flagship domain: urban planning

Carr is examining the processes and effects of China’s rapid urbanization upon its society. Carr, from Rhode Island, studied Chinese in college and spent nearly two years studying, working, and travelling throughout China. “I have been nearly everywhere in China; 59 different places, I believe,” he said. "I hope to do consulting-type work between Chinese and American companies."

Briun Greene, BA, Diplomacy and Military Studies, Hawaii Pacific University; Flagship domain: cross-cultural automobile marketing in China

Greene is trying to understand why German cars are outselling American cars. Greene, from Virginia, spent six years in the Army as a linguist, where he learned Chinese. “I fell in love with China the first time I went there. I wanted to continue my studies in Chinese and attain the highest skill level. I received a U.S. State Department Critical Language Fellowship and headed to Ohio State’s Flagship Program.” After completing the program, Greene wants to get an MBA in China, find a job or start a business and live and work in China indefinitely.

Tina Li, BA, Security & Intelligence, Ohio State; Flagship domain: internationalization of Chinese brands

Her case study is Xiaomi phones. Li, from Worthington, Ohio, is in her seventh year in the Army. An undergraduate minor in Chinese, Li “fell in love with it after my first study-abroad trip two years ago. I was at Level 1, but because of this trip, I learned at a much faster pace and skipped to Level 3. My goal is to work with the U.S. State Department in China. I want to create better ties between China and America and remove the politics from public affairs.”

Mack Lorden, BS, Human Nutrition, Ohio State; Flagship domain: cross-cultural marketing

He is studying how to develop the Chinese tea market in the United States. Lorden also received a U.S. State Department Critical Language Fellowship. Greene and Lorden met in Qingdao, as roommates in the Critical Language Scholarship program. After completing the Flagship program, the northern Kentucky native wants to “bring Chinese culture to American shores, specifically Chinese tea, and open a shop on the West Coast that introduces not just tea, but the cultural experience surrounding the drinking of Chinese tea.”

Nick Pochedly, BA, Chinese, Ohio State; Flagship domain: public health policy

He is currently researching the cultural origins of HIV stigma and methods to reduce HIV discrimination in rural China. From Kent, Ohio, Pochedly plans to attend medical school after he receives his master’s degree. “I studied Chinese in high school through a special program at Kent State; it was like Chinese boot camp. I also studied in Taiwan. I came here because of the program.”

Joel Poncz, BA, Economics; Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington; Flagship domain: environmental studies

He is researching ways to revamp China's recycling system through a mixture of government involvement and privatization. Poncz, from Redmond, Washington, taught English at two universities, Capital University of Economics and Business and Central University of Finance and Economics, in Beijing, China, for four years before coming back to the U.S. to continue studies in Chinese. “I've always had a penchant and passion for environmental issues. Recycling is very important in this world; developing a functioning recycling system, like Germany's, is of paramount importance in dealing with the world's trash. China's system needs revamping, I saw it with my own eyes during the four years I was in Beijing, but don't necessarily want to find a job that in that field. I want to become a consultant or work for the U.S. State Department after I graduate.”

IN LAS VEGAS

There was never a dull moment for the “Flagshippers.”

“There was a noticeable need for our services,” Lorden said. Accordingly, the students took on a variety of different roles and tried to keep everything humming along as seamlessly as possible.

Whether it was Li doing her best to answer consumers’ questions about the products in English (after conferring with the Haier reps in Mandarin), giving interviews—including “my first-ever with CCTV—Chinese television,” and working on fliers; or Lorden serving as media liaison—“I was on the phone all day;” or Greene taking on the role of translator for the Chinese company rep—“I ended up interpreting during the presentations; it was fun;” the students made lots of contacts and had great things to say about the experience.

"I thought the trip to assist Haier helped to show us the necessity of maintaining good lines of communication, not only on an interpersonal level but also up to an organizational level," Carr said.

"I liked the opportunity to meet the Haier delegation at the Consumer Electronics Show," Poncz said.

“It’s great to work with a Fortune 500 Company—when we go to China, it will be important to say that we worked with Haier,” Pochedly said. More importantly, Li added, “It’s great to have an objective, to make language have a practical use. We found out how to be useful to an organization.”

“For those students with a specific interest in business, this was a promising opportunity,” Walker said. “For others, it was a prime opportunity to work directly with a major Chinese international corporation.”

THE OSU MIDWEST US-CHINA FLAGSHIP PROGRAM

The two-year master’s degree program for the advanced study of Chinese is a long, demanding road that leads those who stay the course to a high level of professional proficiency in Mandarin Chinese and opens doors to incredible career opportunities.

The ultimate goal of the Flagship program is to prepare students to work in China and to work with the Chinese to achieve shared goals. Performance is emphasized at every stage of learning advanced skills in Chinese language and culture. Unlike many graduate language programs, it focuses on the cultural aspects of communication that trains American students to successfully navigate Chinese culture and society.

The program not only requires general language proficiency—but “domain proficiency” —the ability to use Mandarin in an academic discipline or career area that insures that students will function well in professional areas in a targeted cultural environment.

The program’s innovative, intensive two-year campus and overseas curriculum, moves students from intermediate or advanced language proficiency to a superior level of professional competency.

Students have a year of classroom-based training at Ohio State, then travel to the program's training center in Guangzhou, China, for an intensive eleven-month immersion in Chinese language and culture. Students receive specialized training and complete a three to six month internship or equivalent assignment in a Chinese organization.

Following their internships in China, students enroll for a semester at a Chinese university; then return to Ohio State for proficiency assessments and completion of a thesis project. Those who meet the program's rigorous criteria receive a master's degree in East Asian Languages and Literatures with a concentration in Advanced Chinese Language & Culture.

--Sandi Rutkowski, Arts and Sciences Communications