Linh T. Phung, EdD

I grew up in poor Vietnam during the time of isolation, economic stagnation, and extreme scarcity of everyday necessities and commodities. Education was seen as the only way for me to escape the impoverished countryside and find a brighter future. I was sent to live with my aunt in a small city so I could attend better schools there. During those years, despite excelling at school, I was, in my naïve mind, constantly tormented for not achieving enough or being extraordinary enough. After college, higher education brought me to the U.S. (and love and marriage made me stay). My journey from childhood to the present has been a continuous pursuit of higher learning, culminating in my recently earned doctorate. I have also grown in other aspects of who I am: an educator, a mentor, a role model, a published author, an engaged employee, and an active member of professional communities. I am happy with where I am and realize that my transition as an immigrant to the U.S. has been rather easy in comparison to others’. However, I also share the struggles to belong and be included. I am looking for ways to be engaged in the local and larger communities as well as find bigger meaning in my life and work and tranquility in my restless mind.