Biography
Lin received his undergraduate degree from Tunghai University, Taiwan, in 1960; his M.A. from Syracuse University in 1963; and his doctorate degree from Michigan State University in 1966. He entered the sociology department at the University at Albany, SUNY in 1971, became a full professor there in 1976 and served as department chair from 1979 to 1982. In 1979, he established contacts with sociologists in the People's Republic of China and established an exchange program between Albany and Nankai University. He also helped organize the first U.S.-China doctoral program in sociology.
In 1990 he took a position as sociology professor at Duke University, where he also served as Director of the Asian-Pacific Studies Institute. A former Vice President of the American Sociological Association, he has also taught at Johns Hopkins University. He has worked in the United States, Central America, Haiti, and China (both mainland and Taiwan).
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