Retired Associate Vice President for International Partnerships Phylis Lan Lin received the Meritorious Award upon her retirement from the University of Indianapolis fall 2018, and was granted the title of professor emerita. The award was presented by the Office of the Provost at the 2018 Faculty-Staff Institute Luncheon.
According to Executive Vice President and Provost Stephen Kolison, the award is given to faculty members who make a significant impact on the university. He said the recipient is someone who distinguishes themselves from their colleagues and deserves a high recognition for their work.
Kolison said it was an easy decision to choose Lin for this award to conclude her long and successful career at the university.
“We are talking about someone that served this institution for 45 years, taught a lot of students, contributed significantly, represented us abroad in so many countries and helped us build programs overseas that brought students from those countries to UIndy,” Kolison said. “She is very generous, established scholarship funds that support students on this campus and helped to establish the social work program and was very generous to that program. We look at that in its totality.”
During Lin’s career, she also worked with non-profit organizations, wrote 30 books in English and Chinese, taught classes in sociology and social work and organized many international conferences to help found programs across the world. Lin said that her goals for UIndy were related to study abroad, international travel and allowing students from other countries to gain access to education from UIndy.
She has also received recognition for her international work from Zhejiang Yuexiu Foreign Languages University and Ningbo Institute of Technology for her outstanding service to those high education institutions.
“We want to have international programs for UIndy,” Lin said. “So anywhere, always, some UIndy related activity is going on, so the sun never sets. That is my dream.”
Lin said she was honored and humbled that her colleagues from all across campus found her to be such a large influence on the campus and deserved the award.
She said that she plans to stay in the Indianapolis area in order to stay a partner of the university and fulfill her role as professor emerita. Even in her retirement, Lin will be starting a new position as the chair of the Academic Advisory Board at the Chinese American Museum in Washington, D.C. The board is designed to create a scholarship program for students prior to the opening of the museum in 2019.
Kolison said that even after her retirement, Lin will continue to have an impact on the university in her past and present work with the institution.
“She has a legacy at this university that is going to go on for years to come,” Kolison said. “I believe she was very deserving. You know, it was meant to be a surprise. But when I announced it the entire auditorium, faculty and staff, everybody stood up on their feet and applauded her for five minutes. She is regarded very highly. It was very special.”
Throughout the last 45 years of Lin’s life she has been a dedicated faculty member at UIndy, according to Kolison. He said she presented herself in a way that would bring pride to the university through her dedication to higher education. Kolison said he was happy to honor Lin with this award upon her retirement and to congratulate her on her successful career at UIndy.
