Authors: Dawit Haile, Katie McKee, Ali Willingham
The struggle of having people try to pronounce his name was one he decided to avoid. Now a part-time graduate instructor in the College of Media and Communication, Zijian Gong prefers to go by the name of Harrison. Born and raised in Shanghai, China, Gong said the path to where he is today has not always been easy.
For his undergraduate degree, Gong studied biology, a decision made by his father. “He believed once you got your bachelor’s in biology, you were done,” Gong said. “Boom. Check it off. But, that is not the case.” Gong said in order to receive a job after majoring in biology a student would have to get a master’s and a doctorate in biology and go on to work for a pharmaceutical agency. Despite the market in China for advertising, Gong said after graduating he decided to pursue his passion and get a second degree in advertising.
Harrison Gong’s faculty picture. Picture courtesy of TTU Media and Communications Staff Directory web page.
“In China, it’s really hard, because they have one thing called a College Entrance Examination,” Gong said. “It’s kind of like the SAT, but you only get one shot in one year and I [had] already got my major in biology so if I wanted to switch my major to advertising, basically, I would have to wait one year to take the exam and then spend four more in college to get my bachelor’s in advertising. Crazy, right?” To avoid waiting five more years to get a bachelor’s degree in advertising, Gong looked into joining a graduate program in China, but was unable to join one because of a rule which stated he had to have a bachelor’s degree within the field he wished to get a graduate degree in. After applying to several American universities, Gong said he picked Abilene Christian University for his graduate studies. “I chose Abilene Christian because it was really small,” he said, “and because my mom said it was safe.” Gong said he knew nothing about the U.S. before he got to Texas, and what his mother knew of the U.S., she had learned from watching television. His mother had heard how dangerous and violent larger cities were, Gong said, laughing, and warned him to stay away from cities like New York City and Los Angeles.
Gong working in eye tracking lab. Courtesy of TTU MCOM eye tracking lab page.
“So they sent me to the middle of nowhere in Abilene,” Gong said. “So I spent two years at Abilene, got my master’s degree in communication, and that’s pretty much the deal.” Since he did a good job on his thesis paper, Gong said he was encouraged to do research, and although he had wanted to get real-world experience in an advertising agency, he decided to apply for doctorate programs. Texas Tech was the first to offer him a job as a graduate researcher and instructor, Gong said, and although he received another offer from Texas A&M University, he decided Tech was the best option for him. “When I was here, Dr. (Coy) Callison was like ‘Here’s your package: we’re going to pay this amount per month and you get the offer, you get the assistantship, you get everything and you’ll be fully funded for three years,’” Gong said. “I was like, ‘all right.’” Gong said his decision to continue his studies at Tech was a great decision, even though it was an entirely new area for him. Although studying biology has given him an advantage in his work at Tech, he said the area is a lonely field and he would have had little interaction with people, something he did not want.
“Here, I feel is the perfect balance,” Gong said, “because I have the equipment and the center for communication research and everything is great. I feel like it’s the perfect fit.”
This article was contributed by Lea Hellmueller’s JOUR 4301: Future of Global Journalism class.
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