Bulletin Spring‧Summer 1993

Prof. S. Tam (left) with Dr. C. P. Kwong (right), holder oj the first Ph.D. degree awarded by the University's Graduate School. first hand the growth of the Graduate School and worked in harmony with my colleagues therein. This has given me immense pleasure. But what is most gratifying is witnessing the graduation of the first batch of doctoral students. • Any special difficulties you've encountered in your job? • As postgraduate programmes depend to a very large extent on the deve l opment of undergraduate studies, and as the Graduate School does not need to involve itself directly in the bidding for resources for such programmes, I luckily have not been put through the test of very difficult problems during my deanship. • You've served concurrently as master of the Postgraduate Hall Complex for 17 years. What are your responsibilities in this post and is there any interesting experience you can tell us about? • I took part in the planning of the Postgraduate Hall Complex, and on its completion in 1976 I was appointed master of the complex. Day-to-day matters regarding residents are taken care of by two wardens, and I am mainly responsible for the general administration of the comp l ex. Before that appointment I had served 11 years as warden of Ying Ling Tang. Living in the postgraduate hostel has provided me with ample opportunities to get in touch with postgraduate students of various disciplines. I have learnt a lot from direct interaction with them. As for interesting experiences, if you consider escorting students to hospital at mid-night to be an interesting experience, then there are many similar examples. • What new duties will you assume after stepping down as dean of the Graduate School? • My responsibilities as pro-vice-chancellor w i ll be reassigned after I step down as dean and after Prof. Baysung Hsu takes up the position of special adviser to the vice-chancellor in March. I shall be given an added responsibility to oversee the development of the University's academic linkage activities, which can be a rather time- consuming job. Other than that I have on my hands the tasks of promoting greater communication between staff members and the un i v e r s i ty administration, and investigating ways to improve our medical benefits scheme. There may be other duties coming up in the future. • GRADUATE SCHOOL 12