Pamela Pan, Ph.D., is an English professor at San Joaquin Delta College where she teaches and does research on composition, literature, and reading. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. In the process of pursuing that degree, she found that her passion was more in language and literature and changed her field in graduate school to English. After coming to the US in 1993, Pamela earned another masters degree in English with an emphasis in Bilingual/ESL Studies. Her Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Davis, focused on language, literacy, and culture.
On the creative writing side, Pamela’s poems and essays have been published in Delta Views, Student Voices, Future Travel, The Writing Cooperative, and The Central Valley Anthology of Essays.
Her current book in progress titled Eight-sided Mountain is a historical fiction based on her grandma’s life experiences in China during the Japanese invasion in World War II. The inspiration for the book came when she wrote an article about her grandparents for a magazine in China, but her children could not fully grasp the meaning due to language and historical knowledge barriers. She would like her children to understand their family history.
In addition, she realized that very few books in English described the Chinese experiences in World War II, let alone from the point of view of a well-sheltered young woman who found her whole world changed through her arranged marriage and by the Japanese invasion.
Toni Morrison said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Pamela decided to become an author of diverse literature instead of just being an advocate of such books in classrooms. To read more about her thoughts on this topic, read her essay “The Window and Mirror of My Writing.”
Besides reading, writing, and teaching, Pamela enjoys music, travel, Broadway performances, hiking, and spending time with her husband and children.
