Tsinghua University News, November 17, 2014  Niall Ferguson, a historian of international fame, recently received the Letter of Appointment from David Kaokui Li, Dean of Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University, and formally became the first Distinguished Visiting Professor of the program, with a term of five years.

Ferguson currently serves as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, and is a Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Until recently, he was also a Senior Research Fellow at Oxford. He will take an active role in contributing to the program’s overall academic affairs design, and sharing insights gained from decades of teaching at the world’s top institutes of higher education.

David Daokui Li Issues Letter of Appointment to Niall Ferguson

As the first Distinguished Visiting Professor of Schwarzman Scholars at Tsinghua University, during Ferguson’s recent visit to Tsinghua University, he paid close attention to the latest development of the program. He has provided valuable suggestions and recommendations on faculty recruitment, academic strategy, curriculum design, and also visited the construction site of the Schwarzman College, the residential building where the Scholars live and study. He inquired details about the design of the college and extended appreciation for the graceful campus and supporting facilities. Ferguson expressed his hope to take an even more active part in the preparatory and promotional activities of Schwarzman Scholars program, and he looked forward to the completion of the college and working together with Schwarzman Scholars team to welcome the first class of students in 2016. By then he will reside in Schwarzman College, fully engaging with the students as a mentor and instructor. He will teach courses for Schwarzman Scholars, as well as for the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, and will participate in the Schwarzman Scholars endowed lecture series in Beijing.

Professor Ferguson Visits the Construction Site of the Schwarzman College

Schwarzman College is next to the natatorium and the East Sports Ground of Tsinghua University. When Ferguson passing by the area, he was keenly interested in the Tsinghua Sportsmanship of “Working healthily for motherland for 50 years”. As a soccer fan, he made mention of Alex Ferguson, the famous British soccer coach who happens to have the same last name, and hoped to see a soccer team of Schwarzman Scholars be established in the future, of which he would like to be a Coach Ferguson.

During this recent trip, Ferguson not only visited the construction site of the Schwarzman College and delivered two public lectures on campus, but also had an in-depth discussion with doctoral students of Tsinghua. In addition to Schwarzman Scholars,  School of Economics and Management also issued a Letter of Appointment of Distinguished Visiting Professor to Ferguson, who was awarded this title by both schools.

In the coming months, Schwarzman Scholars will recruit more visiting professors from top universities around the world to complement coursework taught by the talented faculty at Tsinghua University.