News

CHEERY AND AZALEA BLOSSOMS BECKONING THE ALUMNI

The Office of Alumni Services and Resources Development (OASRD) is inviting all alumni to return to Tamkang to view the full blossoms of the cheery trees and azaleas on campus every weekend and national holiday in March and April. OASRD will arrange warm receptions and other touring activities on these occasions to showcase the beauty of the campus and brief them on the progress of TKU at the same time.

THREE EDUCATION EXPERTS TO VISIT AND ASSESS TKU

In safeguarding a continuous progress, TKU annually organizes a self-evaluation committee to assess the operation of the university academic affairs. The committee members, appointed by the university president personally, are equally divided between internal and external experts on higher education, and make recommendations to TKU based on the result of their assessment. This year, there is no exception. The evaluation conducted by the internal committee members was reported and discussed last Wednesday (23rd of February), whereas the external members will conduct theirs this coming Thursday (3rd of March). Their reports will be then handed over to the Center for Higher Education Research and Evaluation, which in turn will provide references for the university in preparation for the visit of the Pan University Assessment Committee consisted of the members from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Taiwan Assessment and Evaluation Association (TAEA) on 17th and 18th of this month.

EXHIBITION OF WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS BY TAIWANESE ARTISTS UNVEILED

The reception party for the Taiwanese Watercolor Paintings Exhibition was hosted at 10 a.m. last Friday, February 25th by Flora Chang, the president of TKU at the Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center. Six of the exhibiting artists attended the reception and signed for their fans at a signing ceremony during the party. A good number of university’s faculty and staff turned up and lined up for this rare opportunity.

ONE MORE JAPANESE UNIVERSITY TIES SISTER KNOT WITH TKU

TKU is to add another sister university, which will be the 80th, to the long list of its worldwide affiliations. This latest addition, the dignitaries of Akita International University (AIU) of Japan, led by Dr. Mineo Nakajima, its president, will arrive tomorrow, March 2nd, for a visit and a signing of academic exchange agreement. Their arrival symbolizes a significant step TKU has made towards its goal of globalization.

FIRST STAGE CONSTRUCTION OF LANYANG CAMPUS IS AHEAD OF THE SCHEDULE

Dr. Flora Chang, TKU president, was pleased to see the advanced progress of the of the first stage construction of Lanyang Campus when she and her team that included Feng Chao-kang, the vice president of Academic Affairs and several senior administrators of Lanyang Preparatory Committee visited the campus on February 16. Her visit was to ensure this stage of construction to be on schedule in time for the inspection of the Ministry of Education (MOE) that is to take place this month. She saw that not only the construction was ahead of schedule but also met all the requirements set by MOE. Nonetheless, she reminded the committee to safeguard the creation of a spatially and technically well-designed learning environment that meets international standards.

MUSICAL FEAST AT THE “ZOO”

In the next consecutive four weekends starting from this Saturday (March 5th), there will be a series of music-till-you-drop gigs at the famous venue “The Zoo” on Shui-yuan Street in Tamsui. Concepts of such a musical feast is the brainchild of Chang Yong-zhi, a Tamkang alumnus, who has invited some heavyweights—student or commercial bands that are extremely popular according to Internet surveys or their record sales. Entrance requires tickets, which can be purchased on-line or at the box office at the venue on the day of the performance you wish to visit.

MULTIFUNCTIONAL SPIDER CHAIRS FLOW THE CREATIVE JUICES OF ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT

Have you noticed those 24 chairs in unusual shapes in front of the slope of the Architecture Department? Well, according to sources uncovered by Tamkang Times, there is an interesting name, ‘spiders’, for these creations, which are the works of six sophomores from the Department. They are all the students on the course on architectural structure and form lectured by Marco Casagrande and his business associate, Martin Ross. Both of them have been supervising those six students in creating theses spider chairs over one semester.

ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DEPARTMENTS ACCEPT APPLICATIONS FOR JUNIOR ABROAD PROGRAMS

The 2005 Junior Abroad and Exchange Programs organized by both English and Japanese Departments are available for application. For the one in the English Department, sophomores (including those of the evening classes) of any departments can apply. The deadline for application is March 11th. Conversely, Japanese Department limits the application solely to the Japanese-major or double-major sophomores as well as transferred students in their third year. They can apply by Friday, March 4th.

FORUM HELD TO COMMEMORATE THE LATE PROFESSOR AND A RENOWNED WAR TACTICIAN, NIU HSIEN -CHUNG

The Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies (GIIASS) hosted a forum last Saturday, February 26th to commemorate the late professor, Niu Hsien-chung of TKU. The forum, that was to discuss his pioneering and founding of Taiwan’s strategic studies, invited several eminent scholars in this field. Dr. Flora Chang, TKU president and Tsai Ming Shan , a former minister of the Ministry of National Defense delivered the opening speeches. Both of them admitted to be greatly influenced by professor Niu.

TKU BIDS FOR LOT FOR PARKING

In countering the shortage of parking space on campus, the university has decided to bid for the purchase of the approximately 200 ping land surrounding the lab of the Civil Engineering that is situated behind the Liu Xian Science Building. This issue was discussed and passed at the second 2004 University Affairs Meeting on February 18th this year.