An expert on Chinese language, Light maintains adjunct appointment as a professor of applied linguistics at the Beijing Language Institute and as a professor of Chinese at Ohio State. He is the author of many scholarly books and articles for professional journals and has served as president of the Chinese Language Teachers Association and vice president of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching. Light noted that since early in his academic career, he has been in and out of administrative positions, often during times of transition at the institutions he's served. Once those transitions were well on their way, he has always gone back to teaching. People here have been truly wonderful to me, and I am most grateful for the opportunities that I have had here and will continue to have teaching in religion, a subject which I love.
Administration is considered by some to be about projects and measurable achievements.
To me, it is the friendships and associations that I carry when leaving an administrative position, far more than any list of things accomplished. That will be especially true here.