Tainan, TAIWAN, Sep 22 ---“2009 Teacher’s Day Celebration Ceremony” was held on 10 am Sep 22nd at Library Conference Center in National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan for an early celebration of Teacher’s Day, followed by a tea party. The NCKU President, Academician Michael Ming-Chiao Lai (賴明詔), presented various awards of recognition, including Excellent-Teaching Award, General Education Award and Long-Service Award, to those outstanding teachers.

“Teaching with selfless dedication is a respected career. Excellent performance of students is always on top of teachers’ wishes. Teacher is probably the only profession that has sincere wishes that their apprentices, namely students, outperform teachers themselves, which is probably the most honorable thing to the respected teachers. National Cheng Kung University is a comprehensive university with an equal emphasis on both research and education. Professors’ lectures in class often shape more influence than their researches. Education is the main objective to establish the university. If a university is referred as a whole body, then teachers, students and alumni are the three parts to make up the body. Among all, the component - students is the most important constituent of the body,” said President Lai (賴明詔).

“You have to work very hard being a remarkable teacher,” said President Lai (賴明詔). He also highly and strongly admired that all attending teachers had the commendable contribution and outstanding performance in education. Besides that, he also commented that teacher had not only to teach professional knowledge, but also to cultivate the students as a successful person in the 21st century with good character, morality, and taste. “Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude is important. You have to prepare different materials with different kinds of students in different classes. All teachers need to improve themselves in educating students to accommodate for the 21st century. I hope all teachers notice that teaching well is a honor, a responsibility and an important mission,” said President Lai (賴明詔).

Prof. Ming-Tzong Yang (楊明宗) from Department of Accounting and Statistics presented on behalf of all award recipients that all university teachers played equally three roles as teaching, research and service. Among them, conducting a research work makes people feel more lonely and isolated as well as takes longer time to accomplish. However, the research outcomes are more easily and practically assessed. In the past, indices used in performance assessment of a teacher, for example, funding from Ministry of Education (MOE), academic promotion, etc., are more inclined to the component – research. Instead, teaching is more implicit, but could give more influences than the other two. “”Teacher, what you said before really influenced me a lot in my career, said by the graduated students ten or twenty years ago” would be the most prestigious award to any teacher,” said Prof. Yang, also in response to the words of President Lai (賴明詔). “Luckily, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has not been too late to start promoting teaching excellence, and allocated some special funds in “Five Year 50 billion NTD (5Y50B)”for Excellent Teaching Projects these years. Especially, President Lai (賴明詔) really emphasized much in teaching and has requested to put more effort since NCKU has been awarded with the projects and supplement of 5Y50B. From my experience and understandings learned from my son on his tenure to pursue his academic degrees as a bachelor from National Tsing Hua University, a master from National Taiwan University and a doctor from National Chiao Tung University, teachers’ passions and attentions to students in these above three universities are less than those in NCKU. This certainly is a good fortune of NCKU’s students. Moreover, I also believed that all the teachers who received the awards today will contribute more, work harder, and be more responsible in education,” said Prof. Yang.

Excellent-Teaching Awards include Remarkable Teacher Award and Excellent Teacher Award. There are 12 professors recognized with Remarkable Teacher Award, each of them granted with a medal and a cash award of NT$ 120,000 in 3 consecutive years. They are Prof. Yi-Lin Shih (施懿琳) from Department of Chinese Literature, Prof. Yao-Ting Wu (吳耀庭) from Department of Chemistry, Prof. Wei-Min Zhang (張為民) from Department of Physics, Prof. Dar-Yun Chiang (江達雲) from Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Prof. Weng-Sing Hwang (黃文星) from Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Prof. Chang-Tai Tsai (蔡長泰) from Department of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering, Prof. Taho Yang (楊大和) from the Institute of Manufacturing Information and Systems, Prof. Chung-Ho Chen (陳中和) from Department of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Ming-Tzong Yang (楊明宗) from Department of Accounting and Statistics, Prof. Meei-Jyh Jiang (江美治) from Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Prof. Hong-Ming Tsai (蔡宏名) from Department of Diagnostic Radiology, and Prof. Mei-Feng Lin (林梅鳳) from Department of Nursing.

These twelve respected faculty will also be introduced in to the NCKU Academy of Educators. Furthermore, Prof. Yi-Lin Shih (施懿琳) from Department of Chinese Literature, Prof. Wei-Min Zhang (張為民) from Department of Physics, Prof. Ming-Tzong Yang (楊明宗) from Department of Accounting and Statistics, and Prof. Hong-Ming Tsai (蔡宏名) from Department of Diagnostic Radiology will be conferred with Senior Fellowship as they have received the award twice.

Forty-five professors were granted with Excellent Teacher Award. Each of them granted would receive a medal of recognition and a cash award of NT$ 30,000. They are Prof. Wei-Yung Wang (王偉勇) from Department of Chinese Literature, Prof. Hui-Tzu Min (閔慧慈) from Department of Foreign Language and Literature, Prof. Mei-Fang Su (蘇梅芳) from Department of History, Prof. Cheng-Chi Li (李承機) from Department of Taiwanese Literature, Prof. Yung-fu Fang (方永富) and Prof. Wen-Ching Lien (連文璟) from Department of Mathematics, Prof. Shu-Chiuan Chang (張書銓) from Department of Physics, Prof. Huai-Jen Yang (楊懷仁) from Department of Earth Sciences, Prof. Horng-Long Cheng (鄭弘隆) from Institute of Electro-Optical Science and Engineering, Prof. Dong-Huang Chen (陳東煌) and Prof. Ji-Jean Wu (吳季珍) from Department of Chemical Engineering, Prof. Tsair-Fuh Lin (林財富) and Prof. Cary T. Chiou (邱成財) from Department of Environmental Engineering, Prof. Tei-Chen Chen (陳鐵城) from Department of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Jia-Jin Chen (陳家進) from Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Prof. Jong-Shin Huang (黃忠信) from Department of Civil Engineering, Prof. Min-Chih Huang (黃明志) from Department of Systems and Naval Mechatronic Engineering, Prof. Jaan-Rong Tsai (蔡展榮) from Department of Geomatics, Prof. Jenn-Jier Lien (連震杰) and Prof. Pei-Yin Chen (陳培殷) from Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Prof. Tzuu-Hseng Li (洪茂峰), Prof. Mau-Phon Houng (李祖聖) and Prof. Le-Ren Chang-Chien (張簡樂仁) from Department of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Heng Chang (張珩) from Department of Architecture, Prof. Hsien-Hsin Cheng (曾憲嫻) from Department of Urban Planning, Prof. H. C. Wang (王惠嘉) from Department of Industrial and Information Management, Prof. Dung-Chun Tsai (蔡東峻) from Department of Transportation and Communication Management Science, Prof. Chiung-Hui Tseng (曾瓊慧) from Department of Business Administration, Prof. Chin-Chen Chien (簡金成) from Department of Accounting, Prof. Chiung-Yu Chen (陳炯瑜) from Department of Internal Medicine, Prof. Jing-Jane Tsai (蔡景仁) from Department of Neurology, Prof. Jeng-Feng Yang (楊政峰) from Department of Physical Therapy, Prof. Jiunn-Jong Wu (吳俊忠) from Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Prof. Yea-Huei Kao (高雅慧) from Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, Prof. Pei-Luen Tsai (蔡佩倫) from Department of Occupational Therapy, Prof. Hsiao-Sheng Liu (劉校生) from Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Prof. Fong-Sen Wu (吳豐森) from Department of Physiology, Prof. Jin-Shang Wu (吳晉祥) from Department of Family Medicine, Prof. Ming-Yang Lee (李明陽) Department of Surgery, Prof. Yuh-Jyh Lin (林毓志) from Department of Pediatrics, Prof. Po-Lin Chen (陳柏齡) from Department of Internal Medicine, Prof. Ling Chang (張玲) from Institute of Molecular Medicine, Prof. Bling-Lin Cherng (程炳林) from Institute of Education, Prof. Guang-Jong Fann (范光中) from Department of Economics, and Prof. Ya-Fu Lee (李亞夫) from Department of Life Sciences.

Four professors were presented with General Education Award for their superior teaching contribution to NCKU’s general education. They are Prof. Ching-Fei Wang (王慶輝) from Department of Political Science, Prof. Thou-Jen Whang (黃守仁) from Department of Chemistry, Prof. I-Ming Chien (簡義明) from Department of Taiwanese Literature, and Prof. Cheng-Fang Yang (楊正峰) from Department of Occupational Therapy.

Long-Service Award was granted to Prof. Shi-Chuan Lin (林西川) from Department of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering, as well as Prof. Ming-Tzong Yang (楊明宗) from Department of Accounting and Statistics for their 40-year relentless dedication in teaching excellence. Furthermore, 30-year Long-Service Award was presented to Prof. Kao-Ping Chang (張高評) from Department of Chinese Literature, Prof. Wung-Hong Huang (黃文宏) from Department of Physics, Prof. Min-Hsiung Hon (洪敏雄) from Department of Material Science and Engineering, Prof. Chia-Chuen Kao (高家俊) from Department of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering, Prof. Bin-Da Liu (劉濱達) from Department of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Che-Ming Chiang (江哲銘) from Department of Architecture, Prof. Chin-Ho Lin (林清河) from Department of Industrial and Information Management, Prof. Tsun-Mei Lin (林尊湄) from Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, and Prof. Yea-Huei Kao (高雅慧) from Institute of Clinical Pharmacy.