To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in strong support of Song Yang’s petition for permanent residency in U.S.
Since 1997, I am Professor and the chairperson in Social Science Division at Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology. I obtained my B.A. and M.A. from Nankai University in
China, and my Ph.D. from the Sociology Department at State University of New York at Albany
in 1990. I conducted my post-doctorate research at Duke University for a year and later become
assistant professor and associate professor in Department of Sociology at University of
Minnesota from 1991 to present. During my tenure in Minnesota and Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology, I have published tens articles in first class peer reviewed journals,
made hundreds of presentation in nationally and internationally recognized academic
conferences, received numerous funding supports, advised many Ph.D. students, and taught
undergraduate and graduate courses in Minnesota and Hong Kong Sociology Departments. My
work was widely cited by many scholars. To give you an idea, my book (1994) on Work and
Inequality in Urban China was cited in the two popular textbooks by Earl Babbie in his “The
Practice of Social Research (9th edition),” and Rodney Stark “Introduction to Sociology (8th
edition),” both of which were used extensively by many colleges and Universities in U.S. and
other countries.
I have known Song for over a decade as we graduated from the same University of
Nankai University, China. I was his “Big Brother” when he was a middle school student in
Nankai Middle School and I was in the University. Our scholarly relationship starts in 1997
when I was associate professor in Minnesota and Song was finishing up his Master in Economics
from Nankai and planning to pursue his Ph.D. He contacted me about our program in Minnesota.
I had a chance to familiarize myself with his research. I was convinced that Song has research
plan that matches up with our departmental strength in work, organization, and network studies.
He is also capable of pursuing rigorous Ph.D. training in Minnesota, as evidenced in his TOEFL
and GRE score with 95% percentile in the mathematic section. I enthusiastically served as one of
the recommendation persons for his application to Minnesota. Song subsequently received and
accepted our offer to pursue his Ph.D. in Minnesota Sociology, which turns out to be a very
fortunate choice for both Song Yang and the Minnesota Sociology Department.
Starting from 1997, I had to travel frequently between U.S. and Hong Kong to conduct
research in both University of Minnesota and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
During my every visit in Minnesota, I discuss with Song about his research projects. I supervised
Song one course of independent studies, in which he synthesized theories and research in
network and job search literatures and produce an excellent research proposal. I served as Song’s
Ph.D. committee member, which gives me a chance to scrutinize Song’s academic competency.
In his dissertation, Song synthesized theories in company job training from different disciplines
such as sociology, economics, and management science. He produced four contingent models
and tested them with a large national sample of organizations. He exhibits great competency and
strong potential as a successful scholar in Sociology. His work made significant contribution to
the job training literatures and paved new trails for research studies in job training studies in
years ahead. His work not only speaks to scholars but also to practitioners in human resources
management and policy makers. One of his findings suggests that blue-collar labor workers
receive less training investment than professional/technical workers only if organizations
providing such training subject to less institutional pressures. The lack of training investment in
turn translates into lower wage, and lower job security for blue-collar workers, thus perpetuating
the status inequality between professional workers and blue-collar workers. But his finding
indicates that government can reduce this inequality gap among workers in different
occupational groups by increasing their monitoring of corporate human resource policies and
encouraging egalitarian practices. Song wrote a report based on this finding, which will be
published in the forthcoming Research in the Sociology of Work Vol: 12 (2003).
During his doctorate studies in Minnesota, Song’s advisor was professor David Knoke, a
world-class scholar in organizations and social networks studies. In addition to Professor Knoke
and myself, Song has a Ph.D. committee advisor, professor Joe Galaskiewicz, who is a first-class
researcher in philanthropy and nonprofit organization and social network studies. Working under
those top layer scholars, Song received the best quality training from Minnesota Sociology. His
solid training in Minnesota tremendously benefits his professorship in Sociology Department of
University of Arkansas. He received excellent teaching evaluation in his graduate statistic class
and had three manuscripts accepted for publication in prestigious peer reviewed journals, a rare
accomplishment for brand-new faculty since the foundation of that Department. Song plays a
pivotal role in facilitating a historical transition from teaching-oriented department to a researchfocus institute for the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of
Arkansas. Song has technical skills that the department needs in their funding application for
large-scale survey research. Song has demonstrated excellent scholarship in the field of
organization human resource studies, network analysis, and statistical modeling. He will
continue his high productivity and significant contribution to his department program, and to the
discipline.
As evidenced in his vita, Song has made many presentations in nationally and
internationally recognized conferences. He has a record of publication in his fields of work and
organization studies, social network analysis. Song also expects a Master in Computer
Engineering from the Department of Electric and Computer Engineering at the University of
Minnesota this summer 2003. Song’s technical training in computer technology will blend into
his sociological studies, which provide strong potentials for his future scholarly development.
Song is a good colleague to work with and an excellent teacher and scholar. I expect that Song
make much greater contribution to his program, his field of studies, and to the entire discipline of
sociology in the near future. It is my great pleasure to support Song Yang’s petition for
permanent residency in U.S.
Cordially
Yanjie Bian