A ceremony was held on December 19, 2014 for the appointment of professors under the Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University. President CHEN Jining attended the ceremony and issued Letter of Appointment to the representatives of the appointed professors. Vice President XIE Weihe, Vice President and Provost YANG Bin also attended the ceremony, which was presided over by David Daokui Li, Dean of the Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University.

CHEN Jining issues Letter of Appointment to Michael Powers, LI Qiang, QI Ye, YANG Bin and WANG Hui

President CHEN Jining said that, under the ongoing development of the country, Tsinghua University must emancipate the thinking, keep an open mind, and develop a global perspective in both academic research and student development. It was in this general context that Schwarzman Scholars was established with a focus on China in the changing geopolitical dynamics of the world. At the same time, Schwarzman Scholars program provides a global platform for outstanding professors and scholars to further improve their presence in the international academic community, as well as facilitate the University to mold itself into a world class university. CHEN Jining encouraged more schools and departments to continuously support Schwarzman Scholars program, which will inspire implementation of more cross-cultural exchange and cooperative initiatives of the University.

David Daokui Li, Dean of Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University, extended gratitude to the schools and departments for their generous support to the program, as well as deans and professors who could not be present at the ceremony: Yingyi Qian, Lan Xue, Qingguo Meng, Qi Chen, Junren Wan, Gang Luo, Mingjun Sun, Zhe Sun, Daniel Bell. He said, all team members of the program will work closely with these professors and provide desirable services to make earnest and solid efforts in enforcing this major strategic plan.

Group photo of participants

Director of the Social Science Development Office Jun Su, Dean of the School of Social Sciences Qiang Li, Secretary of CPC Committee at the School of Social Sciences Zhiqin Shi, Executive Dean of Schwarzman Scholars program David Pan and Associate Dean of Schwarzman Scholars Wenhao Cheng, as well as representatives of appointed professors Michael Powers, Ye Qi, Hui Wang, among others, participated in the ceremony

A faculty team of high caliber is the fundamental guarantee for academic quality. The Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University provides a variety of disciplines such as economics and business, public policy and international studies. Curriculum is developed with joint efforts by academic leaders from Tsinghua University and most prestigious universities in the world such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Oxford and Duke. All the professors who were appointed this time are academic leaders in their respective fields at Tsinghua University, with internationally advanced education philosophy and extensive teaching experience. Their commitment to the program will lay a solid foundation for the Schwarzman Scholars to build up a world-class faculty and significantly advance the development of this multi-dimensional leadership training program.

As a landmark scholarship with innovative education philosophy, Schwarzman Scholars emphasizes cross-cultural exchange and integration, which attracts acclaimed professors and scholars from leading academic institutions around the globe to take part in the design and development of the curriculum. Recently, three professors, Warren McFarlan, a Professor Emeritus from Harvard Business School, Niall Ferguson, one of the most renowned historian in the world, and Carsten Herrmann-Pillath, a celebrated Sinologist, were formally appointed as Distinguished Visiting Professors of Schwarzman Scholars program. They will reside in Schwarzman College, the residential building where the scholars of the program live and study, fully engaging with the students as a mentor and instructor. Earlier this semester, Professor Warren McFarlan, as one of the members on the Academic Advisory Council under Schwarzman Scholars, presented a wonderful demonstration class on campus, providing a valuable resource for the faculty training in case-based teaching method. In addition, Lawrence Summers, former U.S. Secretary of Treasury and former President of Harvard University, as well as Joseph Nye, Father of Soft Power and acclaimed political scientist at Harvard University, both indicated willingness to further participate in the development of the Schwarzman Scholars program and make contribution to its academic innovation and curriculum design.