「我原先打算在中國進行少數民族的研究,但就在我準備博士論文研究計畫時,發生了六四事件,讓我不得不改題目,當時有人就建議我研究台灣的民主化過程,所以我就順勢改了題目,並在1991年這一整年中留在台灣研究地方選舉,自此之後我就經常來台進行長期和短期的訪問。1991年能待在台灣真是太好了,但其實每次我來到台灣,我都覺得:『天哪!我真是太幸運了!能在這個時候來到台灣!』因為台灣的發展非常迅速,方興未艾…對於一個政治學家來說,沒有比台灣更好的環境了,因為參與政治的人不僅樂於講述自己的故事,也了解你需要的東西,且願意提供給你。就整體學術社群來說,台灣學者學識淵博、造詣極高,我對他們深感欽佩。」— 任雪麗教授。
傅爾布萊特資深學者任雪麗博士為北卡羅來納州戴維森學院東亞政治系榮譽教授,擁有哈佛大學政府學博士學位,及普林斯頓大學公共與國際事務學士學位。任雪麗博士曾於2005年在政治大學進行訪問研究,並於2006年到上海復旦大學擔任客座教授。她著有兩本關於台灣國內政治的專書:《Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Democracy》及《From Opposition to Power: Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party》,以及多篇關於台灣國內政治及兩岸議題的文章。#WhyIChoseTaiwan #愛台灣我的選擇 #RealFriendsRealProgress #美台關係 #真朋友真進展
“I expected to do my graduate work on minorities within the PRC but when June 4, 1989 happened just as I was preparing a dissertation prospectus, I had to make a change and I got this great suggestion to study Taiwan’s democratization. So I switched up my topic and I spend the whole year of 1991 here studying local elections and then I’ve been coming back regularly for longer and shorter stays ever since then. ‘91 was a great year to be here but, as a matter of fact, every time I’ve ever been here, I thought ‘oh my gosh, I’m so lucky to have been here now ’ because Taiwan just moves at this breakneck pace and things just keep happening....there’s just no better environment for a political scientist then one in which the people who participate in politics not only want to tell their story but also understand what it is that you need and are willing to give it to you. And then the larger academic community, the Taiwanese scholars, all work at an extremely high level. I have enormous admiration for what they can do.“ Dr. Shelley Rigger, Fulbright Fellow
Dr. Shelley Rigger is a Professor of East Asian Politics at Davidson College. She has a PhD in Government from Harvard University and a BA in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University. She has been a visiting researcher at National Chengchi University in Taiwan (2005) and a visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai (2006). Rigger is the author of two books on Taiwan’s domestic politics: Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Democracy and From Opposition to Power: Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, as well as multiple articles on Taiwan’s domestic politics and cross-Strait issues.