Obituary

Dr. Rosina Chih-Hung Chia (February 24, 1939 - August 22, 2020) was born in Hong Kong, and then spent her early years in China, then Hong Kong, and eventually Taiwan. She attended the Taiwan Second Girls High School and National Taiwan University, where she majored in psychology. In 1962, she moved to the United States to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan on the Barbour Scholarship. After receiving her masters and doctorate degrees in psychology in 1969, she began her 40+ year career as a professor at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. Her career began in the Psychology Department and concluded in the Global Understanding Program where she was well ahead of her time in using video conference technology to bring international students together to learn from each other. During her tenure at ECU, she advanced to become the first female Chairman of the Department of Psychology, and later took on administration roles, serving as the Special Assistant to the Chancellor, and the Ombudsman for the University. Upon her retirement, she moved to a senior community in Palo Alto, CA in 2012. Rosina was a beautiful, happy, and optimistic person – vivacious, engaging, humorous, enthusiastic and driven, and at the same time, warm, caring, gracious and giving. She loved to talk, travel, read, and make friends. And she was good at it, with a wide range of friends, new and old, around the world. She was passionate about research and teaching, and making a difference in the lives of others. And she was good at that too, making a significant impact in the lives of so many, both in her personal life and ECU teaching life. She often said she had a blessed and fortunate life, and she did. 

Survivors include her son, Eugene Lao (Courtney), daughter, Renee Hansen (Mike), her beloved grandchildren, Jason and Erin Lao and Anna and Caroline Hansen, sisters Jeannie Fu and Jihzheng Ma, ex-husband (Y.J. Lao) and many extended relatives. Special thanks to the staff at Channing House for their gracious care and support during Rosina’s time with them.