Chen Wen-chang (陳文章), dean of National Taiwan University’s (NTU) College of Engineering, is to become the university’s new president after yesterday winning in two rounds of voting.
A source familiar with the election process said it was convoluted because the School of Medicine and the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science nominated multiple candidates.
Aside from being a recognized academic, an eligible candidate for the nation’s national chair professorship program and holder of numerous patents, Chen is also known as a capable administrator, with one of his proudest moments being when he raised funds to build multiple dormitories for the engineering college, the source said.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
NTU is a comprehensive university, making it difficult to secure external funding, but Chen has been competent in securing investments not only for the college, but also for other units, NTU Election Committee convener Liang Kung-yi (梁賡義) said.
The election process was “smooth and peaceful,” as the committee had previously interviewed the candidates and was fully briefed on their ideals for running a university, Liang said.
The committee met in the afternoon, debating for an hour the voting method.
It voted on six candidates in the first round, which whittled the candidates down to two, he said.
Chen is to succeed NTU president Kuan Chung-ming (管仲閔) after Kuan’s term comes to an end on Jan. 7 next year, Kung said.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
Snow this morning fell on Alishan for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of about 2,200m in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55am to 9:15am, when the temperature dropped to about 1°C, the CWA said. With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snow, CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其) said. The last time snow fell at the Alishan weather station was on Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there
RSS