Tsing Hua Celebrates its 111th Anniversary

2022.05.01

On May 1^st, NTHU celebrated the 111th anniversary of its founding and 66th anniversary of its reestablishment in Taiwan. During the celebration, the school's newly appointed president, W. John Kao(高為元), said that as long as the Tsing Hua community works together in harmony, and with courage and determination, it will surely be able to successfully meet the challenges of the next 111 years. One of the highlights of the event was the donation of NT$25 million to NTHU by the class of 1972.

Kao, who was officially sworn in as president of Tsing Hua University the day before the anniversary, said that he has had a memorable two days, that he is grateful for all the words of encouragement he has received recently, and that he is honored to join the big Tsing Hua University family.

President Kao said that Tsing Hua's continuing emphasis on excellence in education and research accords with his own core values: autonomy, academic freedom, equity, inclusiveness, and diversity. During the first few months in his new position, he plans to spend a lot of time listening to what teachers and students have to say, so as to strengthen his ability to enhance NTHU's unique position as a leader in cross-disciplinary research and education.

Alumni Association president Tsai Jinbu(蔡進步) was on hand to welcome Kao. He said that NTHU is currently developing its programs in medicine and various other fields, and that Kao's administrative skills, global vision, and extensive international experience place him in an excellent position to lead the school at this critical juncture.

Tsai pointed out that 2022 is the 60th anniversary of the death of NTHU's founding president Mei Yi-chi, who once said, “The greatness of a university is not measured by the size of its buildings, but rather by the quality of its faculty.” He observed that now that NTHU already has both great buildings and outstanding faculty, the challenge is to reaffirm and carry out the school's historic commitment to independent thinking, innovation, and social justice. He added that doing so is the best way to wish the school a happy birthday!

Representing the class of 1972 was Lu Chengli(呂正理), who said that when he graduated, the school had only four departments—nuclear engineering, physics, mathematics, and chemistry—and that the student body, including graduate students, numbered less than one thousand. Amazingly, today there are 12 colleges, 69 departments, and more than 18,000 teachers and students.

Lu pointed out that despite such impressive growth, a public university cannot rely solely on government funding to meet its development requirements. Thus, donations are essential; however, those provided by big corporations and a handful of wealthy alumni are insufficient, which leaves it to ordinary alumni to make up for the shortfall. With this need in mind, a group of alumni from the class of 1972 initiated a fundraising campaign targeting their classmates who graduated in the same year. Of the 160 members of the class of 1972, they successfully contacted nearly 100, over half of whom made a donation.

During the anniversary celebration, four members of the class of 1972, each representing one of the school's four departments at that time, presented the donation to NTHU in the form of an oversized check. The donation has been ear-marked for a variety of purposes, including the Rising Sun Scholarship, the Zhumeng Scholarship, and the conversion of the Main Auditorium into the Chun-shan UMC Concert Hall. Those representing the class of 1972 at the ceremony were Qian Shanheng(錢善恒) of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, You Wenchian(游文乾) of the Department of Physics, Li jengjung(黎正中) of the Department of Mathematics, and Shou Mingjung(壽明榮) of the Department of Chemistry.

Due to the pandemic, the scaled-back celebration was broadcast live online, and in-person participation was kept to a minimum.

Representing the student body was Wu Chengyun(吳承澐), this year's recipient of the Presidential Education Award. At the age of 14, he was affected by a rare condition known as Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, which left him nearly completely blind.

Nonetheless, Wu excelled at music, and gained admission to NTHU under the Special Admissions Program, which grants admission based on an interview rather than standardized test scores. As a student of the Experimental Education Program, he designed his own curriculum consisting of courses in music, marketing, and management. Having released an album of his piano music, and organized a benefit concert, he sees a bright future for himself now that “Tsinghua has shown me the world!”

An additional highlight of the celebration was the conferral of this year's Outstanding Alumni Awards. One of the recipients was former NTHU president Chen Wen-tsuen (B.S., nuclear engineering, 1970) who has played a key role in the development of computer science in Taiwan. In his speech, he said that he came to NTHU over 50 years ago at the age of 18 to study nuclear engineering, and has been here ever since, apart from his mandatory military service and his time studying abroad. Chen added that he is grateful for the excellent learning environment at NTHU.

The other recipient was SC Hsin (B.S., physics, 1978; M.S., physics, 1980), president of VisEra Technologies, a leading semiconductor manufacturer. He said that he returned to NTHU in 2009 to serve as a mentor for the residential college, in which capacity he led a group of students on an unforgettable disaster relief mission to Pingtung County following the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot. In an interesting turn of events, Chen Wen-tsuen was the president of NTHU at that time, in which capacity he presented the mission with the school flag.

Another highlight of the celebration was a rendition by the Tsinghua AI Orchestra of the famous John Lennon song “Imagine,” using a recently developed technology called “music source separation.”

On May 1^st, NTHU celebrated the 111th anniversary of its founding and the 66th anniversary of its reestablishment in Taiwan.

NTHU president W. John Kao (third from right) and special guests cutting the birthday cake.

President Kao said that NTHU is sure to successfully meet the challenges of the next 111 years.

President Kao (center) receiving a donation to NTHU in the form of an oversized check from four members of the class of 1972 (left to right): You Wenqian of the Department of Physics, Qian Shanheng of the Department of Nuclear Engineering, Li Zhengzhong of the Department of Mathematics, and Shou Mingrong of the Department of Chemistry.