Paying It Forward: Alums Honor Beloved Advisor by Supporting Rackham GSIs

For many U-M students, autumn is a time of new beginnings, but Rackham alums Qiang Lin (M.S. ’01) and Yuqing Melanie Wu (Ph.D. ’04) started their Michigan journey when campus resembled a swirling snowglobe. 

“We arrived in Ann Arbor in the winter semester, in the biggest snowstorm we ever experienced in our lives up to that point,” Wu recalls.

Having met as undergraduate students at Peking University in China, the couple arrived in Michigan in 2000 as young newlyweds. Living in the Northwood apartment complex on the edge of North Campus, they navigated the rigors of graduate school in U-M’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department together.

Among their fondest memories of that formative chapter is studying side by side in the Duderstadt Center—then known as the Media Union. “We spent most of our time studying and working on campus with classmates, labmates, course project teams, and with each other,” Wu recalls. 

The training they received laid the groundwork for their successful careers: Lin as an enterprise resource planning software system consultant, and Wu as a distinguished computer science professor and higher education administrator first at Indiana University, Bloomington, and now at Pomona College in Claremont, California. Now, they are extending the impact of their U-M education through a $125,000 gift to establish the Toby J. Teorey Fund for Graduate Student Instructor Excellence at Rackham Graduate School.

The endowment honors Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department Professor Emeritus Toby J. Teorey. When Lin arrived at a major research university to study computer science, he did not expect that a busy faculty member would take time out for an M.S. student. He was surprised when Teorey reached out to schedule a meeting at the very start of his first semester.

“He did not just provide guidance—he asked me questions, listened to me, and provided guidance that was tailored to my situation,” Lin says. “For instance, upon knowing of my career plan, Professor Teorey encouraged me to take Electronic Commerce, which taught me important techniques and helped me become a successful system consultant for large-scale business software.” Armed with these skills, Lin launched a successful career as a software specialist.

Wu benefited from Professor Teorey’s wisdom as a professor in her research group at U-M. Her Ph.D. studies were funded by the prestigious Barbour Fellowship from Rackham, as well as a research assistantship, allowing Wu to focus on her research during her doctoral training, which helped her land a faculty position right after her graduation.

As her career developed (she later became a department chair and the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Pomona College), Wu realized how critical early teaching experience is. “Serving as a graduate instructor is an invaluable experience,” she says, noting that it helps Ph.D. students master critical skills like course design, communication, and mentoring. The new fund includes a new annual award, the Global Teaching Excellence Award, that places a special emphasis on supporting GSIs who are navigating linguistic and cultural differences, helping international students build the confidence and belonging they need to thrive.

According to Lin and Wu, the best thing about Teorey’s care for his students is that it was a devotion extended to all the students that he encountered in the department, exemplifying the heart and spirit of a public university. 

In addition to his role as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, Teorey conducted extensive research in disk scheduling algorithms, computer system simulation, performance analysis, analytical models for database structure evaluation, and the development of NetMod—an interactive, analytical tool for capacity planning for large-scale local networks. He authored several books and numerous journal articles. He was also a consultant to organizations throughout the world, including the U.S. National Security Agency, IBM and The World Bank.

In 2019, the College of Engineering created the Toby Teorey Collegiate Lecturer award to recognize College of Engineering faculty members for outstanding, innovative contributions to education. Reflecting on his feelings when he learned that another honor had been named for him through Toby J. Teorey Fund for Graduate Student Instructor Excellence Awards, Teorey responded with sincere modesty: “I’m very flattered.”

“I think I come from a general philosophy of kindness,” he says. “I always wanted to be able to believe in students. Somebody believed in me when I got my graduate degree, and I wanted to believe in them, too.”

The new fund significantly bolsters Rackham’s annual GSI awards. Through the couple’s gift and a $62,500 match from the university’s Look to Michigan Student Support Matching Program, Rackham can now expand and elevate these awards. With the first awards planned for a ceremony on April 13, 2027, the funding will support 22 Toby J. Teorey GSI Awards, including 18 regular GSI awards, two Global Teaching Excellence Awards, and two Exemplary GSI Awards. 

Teorey hopes his colleagues will actively nominate outstanding student instructors. Reflecting on a 37-year career, Teorey shares that successful mentorship is rooted in a general philosophy of kindness, setting consistent goals, and “giving credit where credit is due.”

For Lin and Wu, this gift is a way of ensuring that the cycle of teaching excellence continues. “We hope the recipients feel their hard work and excellent delivery is recognized by U-M—and we hope others will follow the footsteps of Professor Teorey in their own professional career.”

Learn more about the Toby J. Teorey Graduate Student Instructor Awards.