On Feb 18, after a long, three-week Winter Break, TKU faculty and staff returned to Tamkang for the first day of work in the Chinese “Year of the Snake”. To mark the New Year, TKU held the annual Tamkang University Morning Tea at the Chueh Sheng International Conference Hall, Tamsui Campus.

The venue, at which the Morning Tea was held, was decorated with an auspicious New Year in mind. The food tables were lined up to resemble the Chinese character 旺 “Wang” (meaning prosperity). On the tables were fruits symbolizing peace and good fortune; fruits like apples, mandarins, and dates, among others.

During the event, the President of TKU, Dr. Flora Chia-I Chang, wished attendees a “Happy New Year” and outlined a number of TKU New Year “resolutions” and goals:

1. The active promotion of student activities related to the “year of moral character” campaign, recently launched by Tamkang.

2. Implementing into daily work practices principles of Total Quality Management, such as the PDCA process and other such procedures, which have become a part of the unique TKU culture; and

3. Strengthening the quality of administrative self-evaluation mechanisms.

This year, the morning tea also featured a special guest: Prof. David Post, who was invited to Tamkang by the TKU College of Education to deliver a special lecture. Prof. Post is a professor at the College of Education, Penn State University (US) and is the editor in chief of the SSCI indexed journal “Comparative Education Review”. During the opening remarks, Prof. Post said that this is his first time taking part in a Chinese New Year Morning Tea event and that he felt honored to be participating in this annual TKU tradition.