When Chieh-Yu “Tom” Chen (PhD ‘17 Special Education) came to the United States from Taiwan to pursue his PhD, he was faced with adjusting to a new language and culture. With the help of a mentor and a unique source – a community discovered through new hobbies – Tom was able to find success both at the College of Education and in Taiwan, where he eventually returned after graduation.
Tom earned his master’s degree in Special Education in Taiwan, inspired by his father’s work as a wheelchair engineer. He decided to earn his PhD at the UO after COE alumni in Taiwan recommended the program.
While at the COE, he formed a strong relationship with his mentor, Jane Squires, Associate Professor Emerita. Jane encouraged Tom to pursue his interest in statistical analysis of the data gained through her research on screening and assessment tools, including the ASQ and ASQ:SE, which she developed with colleagues at the UO. Tom found that Jane “listened to everybody’s opinions and let others challenge her opinions. She also gave me space to choose what I wanted to study. That inspired me to have an open mind for all kinds of students.”
Jane described Tom as “an enthusiastic, dedicated researcher in special education.”
“As a student at UO, Tom took advantage of many opportunities, including taking several new, advanced statistical courses at UO. He then took that knowledge with him on a six-month research program in Brazil, where he performed analyses on several large Brazilian childcare data sets that resulted in numerous joint research papers with the Brazilian team.”
Tom also became interested in several hobbies while in Eugene that introduced him to new people and experiences. Tom looks back fondly on his time in Eugene, where he found the culture to be open-minded and refreshingly direct. He became a frequent thrift store shopper and collected vintage postcards. Perhaps the most influential new interest, however, was his love of board games. After a visit to Funagain Games in Eugene, he met owner Cary Madden, who became one of his dearest friends.
“Tom and his wife, Sesame, are close friends who happen to have started out as customers. We would regularly get together in the store after hours and prepare and eat food and play games together in the store. I was very sad when Tom graduated and he and Sesame had to go back to Taiwan, because they were my greatest source of joy during that time.”
Cary reflected on the role that gaming can play in helping people adjust to new environments. “Board games are social by nature. For a certain people who are more introverted or less socially adept, games provide a structured environment. That alone lets people feel a little less uncertain and a little more at ease.”
When Tom returned to Taiwan, he brought his love of gaming into his research, using board games as an intervention in special education, and teaching a course on gaming to master’s students at the National Taipei University of Education. He continues to research assessment tools, translating the ASQ:SE into Chinese in the hopes of bringing the UO’s expertise into the Taiwanese special education field, and he is still unearthing “treasures” in data and statistics. He recently earned a promotion to Associate Professor there and hopes to become a professor in the next few years.