Welcome to the WTOSP 2014! -- from Manager Mike Lohre

First and foremost, WELCOME, students and friends from China!  We are very excited to meet all of you very soon.  We hope to make your time in the United States as educational and enjoyable as possible, and our goal always is to build bridges between our two cultures through education, communication both written and spoken, friendship, and travel.

My name is Mike Lohre, and I am the Manager of the WTOSP.  Wuhan and its people and students are very dear to me.  I taught two summers in Wuhan, and have managed this program since 2009.  I'm lucky to work with great people and soon you'll meet many talented teachers and leaders who work to make the program special.

I have a Master's Degree in English and a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language.  I came to Ohio State in 1995 and earned my Master of Fine Arts in both Poetry and Fiction writing.  I have now taught at OSU for 18 years and I really enjoy it.

In younger life, I was raised on a family farm in Minnesota and we cared for pigs, sheep, cattle, corn, beans, oats, alfalfa and chickens.  I was the first in my family to graduate from college and I studied Journalism.  I later was a Journalist but I also worked as a Warehouse manager, salesman, pipeline leak fixer, road construction worker, grain bin builder and many other odd jobs.  I started teaching in earnest after I got my Masters Degree at age 30, and I have now taught English at Ohio State for 18 years. 

I love to write and I have published fiction and poetry.  I also writes lots of music and just enjoy playing for fun.  Hopefully we can learn some new songs together while you are here! 

You will meet my lovely and friendly wife Irene very soon, and she loves to get to know you and be involved with the program when she is not busy working. Irene is originally from The Philippines and she works at a nursing home for the elderly here in Columbus.  

Okay, that is plenty for now.  This blog allows us to write, post pictures, create links to research and ideas, and even share videos or video reflections and interviews.  There are lots of possibilities with technology and this blog lets us do many different things. 


We'll learn how to use this blog once everyone arrives and there will be entries on the blog to help you.  For now, look for informational posts and introductions here.  Welcome to the Wuhan To Ohio Summer Program 2014!

Mike and Irene Lohre