The 2013 handover ceremony for department heads was held in the Chueh Sheng International Conference Hall on the TKU campus on Thursday, August 1st, starting at 10am. The event included eighteen positions changing hands in the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Mass Communication.

President Flora Chia-I Chang said in her opening remarks that the handover ceremony for new and outgoing department heads has been a tradition for many years, with the passing of the baton on to the next group of leaders and as a way of giving thanks to those departing. When interviewing new department heads, the President always tells Level 2 Teaching Department Heads that they were selected via popular mandate, and so long as they can harness their energies and nurture their capabilities, they will be able to realize their ambitions. Level 2 Administrative Heads have most often started out their career at the bottom and have many years of work experience, and with this abundance of administrative experience, they can also successfully guide their workplace colleagues. President Chang explained how in recent days she was upgraded from a position in a technical college to a university committee member, with the opportunity to attend the 9th Conference for University Presidents from the Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macao Regions. She said that she has visited many domestic colleges and universities and found the software and hardware facilities at each school to be both novel and very creative, things such as catering and hotel equipment, classroom facilities, and new ideas for library allocation. The president hopes to encourage all her colleagues to focus on the following three points:

1) Rapid Response

In the rapidly changing environment of today’s higher education, it is important that each department head at the school respond to challenges in a quick and savvy manner using strategies such as the latest of software and hardware architecture, financial restructuring, organizational innovation, Total Quality Management, and so forth.

2) Creativity and Innovation

Departments are the heart of the school, and new department heads should hold fast to the TKU mission to pay heed to the past while meeting the future by understanding the general situation of the department affairs as soon as possible, and reading up on the relevant regulations. In addition, all the department features should be developed through creative and innovative thinking, and departments should be guided in forging ahead in the established direction of this development.

3) Benchmarking

The two key points of benchmarking are comparing operating performances and studying best practices models. It is hoped that each person chooses to benchmark his or her school and conduct an immediate observation.

The president again thanked the outgoing heads for their many years of contributions to TKU, also saying that she hopes the new department heads will take up the baton and give it their best in a hard sprint for TKU.

New and outgoing department heads then spoke to the assembly, with the new Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Lin Sinn-Cheng, saying that he had entered TKU’s Department of Information and Library Science fifteen years ago, and during that time had received no small amount of help and consideration from two professors, Huang Shih-Hsion and Huang Hong-Chu, from Dean Chiu Jeong-Yeou, and from other colleagues as well. Serving as a department head six years ago was one of life’s unexpected journeys for him. From reading the book, “Leadership Gold: Lessons I’ve Learned from a Lifetime of Leading,” given to him by Dean Chiu, he came to the profound understanding that the person most difficult for him to lead is himself, which has allowed him to transform from his original mindset of serving as a custodian to that of one taking an active leadership role. Therefore, his unexpected journey has become a journey of learning. Dean Lin thanked all the members of his harmonious Department of Information and Library Science family. He will instill this same ambience in the College of Liberal Arts in the future by continuing to shape a unique learning environment that evokes the perspective of the East, a global vision, an international standard and creative restructuring, building core competencies in the College of Liberal Arts in creative sinology, a cultural point of view, innovative publishing, film and television entertainment and digital content. Chen Li-Hua, the new Director of the Graduate Institute of Curriculum and Instruction, spoke about the continuation of her karmic destiny from 28 years ago. Director Chen recalled the deep impression left on her many years ago while serving at Tamkang by the Three Objectives of Education promoted by TKU founder Clement C.P. Chang, globalization, information-oriented education and future-oriented education. It is as if she has now returned to the environment she knows so well, rich in efficiency and innovation, and with benchmarking a worthy concern; continuing to serve at TKU is truly a cause for rejoicing, she said. Digital Information Group Leader Lin Tai-Hung said that he regards his new position as an opportunity for self-discipline, and that he looks forward to seeing the TKU library retain its leading position among domestic libraries as the academic heart serving the faculty, staff and students of the entire university.

Outgoing Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Chiu Jeong-Yeou modestly referred to himself as the “little brother” of college deans because the four years of care he felt from “older brother” deans, chancellors and university colleagues was exceptionally warm. Dean Chiu pointed out that the pressures on administrative managers is certainly quite heavy, but he thinks that one should persist in doing the right thing to the end, and that only then will a department move in the direction of good development. Li Chi-Wang, outgoing Director of the Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, said that working as an administrative manager had not been his original career plan, but it allowed him to get a taste of an experience that most teachers will never understand. He hopes that new Director Chang Li-Chiu can bring a fresh atmosphere to the department. Outgoing head of the Department of Russian Chang Ching-Gwo thanked everyone at TKU for helping him over the years, especially thanking the President for providing an opportunity for the Department of Russian to put innovative courses of action into practice. Chen Hsinchih, outgoing Director of the Center for General Education and Core Curriculum, said that although she only held her post for two years, it felt more like six years because her administrative work eventually flashed a red warning sign about her health. She therefore had no choice other than to resign. She very earnestly recommends that the Office of Information Services get serious about integrating the school’s information systems so that each office can save time on business integration and enhance administrative efficiency. Although the outgoing head of the Operation Management Section, Tsai Chun-Chih, has already retired, she still hurried over to the conference hall to attend the handover ceremony today. She firmly believes that Director Hsiao Ming-Chin will definitely be able to restructure and upgrade the office. Lastly, to the sounds of congratulations and blessings, the grand, warm handover ceremony came to a conclusion.

SDGs

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