Newsletter No. 42

CUHK N e w s l e t t e r No.42 May 1993 makes possible wi ll deepen and enrich Hong Kong's intellectual life for the benefit of all,' he said at the opening ceremony held on 27th April. The general office of the Center is located on the sixth floor of the Tin Ka Ping Building and affiliated to it are the Institute of International Education that manages a student advising unit, and the American Studies Resources Library, both of which find accommodation in the basement of the University Library Building. The Center's current and founding director is Prof. Lee C. Lee, a Fulbright Scholar from the Cornell University. Officiating at the opening ceremony were the Center's Board Chairman, Mr. C. C. Tung of Orient Overseas (International) Ltd., and four other board members —Prof. Kao from this University; the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, Prof. Wang Gung-wu; President of the Baptist College, Dr. Daniel Tse; and the US Consul- General in Hong Kong, Mr. Richard Williams. On the same occasion, Prof. James B. Meriwether of the University of South Carolina presented a collection of books by William Faulkner and other Southern American writers to the Center's library. The collection consisting of 2,500 volumes is unique in Asia in its comprehensiveness, and is matched by only a few research library collections in the US. Guests who attended the opening ceremony included the US Ambassador to China, Mr. J. Stapleton Roy; two ethnic Chinese film-makers from the US, Ms. Shirley Sun and Ms. Felicia Lowe; and the Founding Donor of the Center, Mr. L, T. Lam of Forward Winsome Industries Ltd. Inaugural celebrations lasted for two more days on 28th and 29ih April with a symposium entitled 'Hong Kong - the Cultural Bridge', which took place at The Chinese University, the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Members of the public are welcome to use the Center's facilities and join as members. For further information, please contact the Center at 6097186 or fax to 6035266. 'OuttotheWo r l d, OntoYour Desk' Campus Computer ApplicationsFair '93 T h e Computer Services Centre (CSC) launched a fair last month at the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall to introduce to students and staff the numerous applications available on their new high-performance Campus Backbone Network. The building of the network started last July and some HK$10 million has been allocated for the project, which involves linking up computer systems in different buildings, network equipment installation and networking management. Low-speed links between various Local Area Networks (LANs) on the campus have been replaced, in phases, by the high-performance and high-speed Campus Backbone Network. Fibre Distributed Data Interface —a technology based on fibre optics —is used in the networking, and connection with all departmental LANs except that with the new engineering building is expected to be completed before the 1993-94 academic year. In the exhibition held on 14th April, the CSC set up numerous booths and held 13 seminars to demonstrate the various applications on the network. These included campus-wide information system, campus-wide electronic mail system, access to Internet, electronic references, window applications, library catalogues, multi-media application tools, local area network, office automation, and security issues on network. (More information on pages 9 and 10.) With the new network in place, students and teachers can now have quicker access to a large number of local and international databases, and be able to receive, communicate and distribute information much more effectively. The campus is one step nearer to the CSC objective: 'Out to the World, Onto your Desk'. 2