I was asked to compose comments to celebrate Wynne Chin's contribution to the academic community.
Everyone needs a Wynne in their life.
Wynne turns up in the oddest places and at the most unexpected times.
He often leads the way with a fresh idea or to a new experience.
He always takes care to listen, be a friend, and to be a mentor.
What is atypically about Wynne, is that every story is good.
Story One: Making everyone feel important.
I first met Wynne in the 1990s as a graduate student.
We had a lot of visitors at FSU. Most forgot the PhD students. Wynne remembered all of us.
I recall after flooding in the town, he reached out and made sure I was ok.
He may not have known it - but it meant a lot.
I had read his papers and slept with his 1998 book chapter next to my bed.
That someone so important made me matter, carried me through the difficult end of dissertation phase.
That Wynne cares makes him a role model as a mentor. One that I aspire to become.
Story Two: Humility.
Wynne is remarkably humble.
We collaborated on a paper that looked at the unmeasured latent marker variable technique and its efficacy in PLS.
The little-known backstory to that paper is one Wynne would never tell. He would tell a story of collaboration.
Really though, the paper is a story of mentoring.
Wynne wrote the first draft as a review. He told me about it while chatting at a conference. I encouraged him to write the paper up.
So he did and invited me & a friend along for the ride.
Wynne helped us figure out data collection, showed us the right way to run a Monte Carlo simulation - such that the paper is cited as an example of how to use it right - and taught us how to craft a positive story in a paper that debunked a method.
Wynne taught me lessons on positive scholarship & collaboration that affect how I work with my students.
I stress working with friends, a positive tone in papers, & aiming high - all lessons that I learned from that project.
Story Three: Leadership.
Most faculty with thousands of citations don’t do much for the community, they rest on their laurels, Wynne is the opposite.
While he is an accomplished scholar, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Wynne's leadership away from research.
Wynne has served in virtually every major role at our professional association’s conference - from program chair to conference chair.
Wynne has chaired the PLS Congress - ensuring each of the delegates felt valued & wanted to come again.
Wynne Chin has served his university as an advocate for the faculty in the Senate & as an advocate for faculty in national organizations.
Most faculty with tens of thousands of citations don’t do much for the community, they rest on their laurels, Wynne is the opposite.
Wynne has touched so many of lives & made them better.
I am so pleased to have been invited to celebrate with my friend & to celebrate him as my mentor.
Thank you.
Comments