Newsletter No. 176

PM's Role in a Shrinking World I nternationally renowned political scientist Prof. Richard Rose delivered a public lecture on 'The Prime Minister in a Shrinking World' in his capacity as Wei Lun Visiting Professor to the University on 8th December 2000 in L i Koon Chun Hall. Prof. Rose began s t udy i ng B r i t i sh politics when Winston Churchill was prime mi n i s t er and has conducted extensive research into the role of presidents and prime ministers on five continents. In his lecture, he discussed the issues faced by political leaders when they go beyond their own countries. In an increasingly open world, no leader can claim to have power over all the forces that may affect the political, economic, and social issues for wh i ch he or she is formally responsible. Prof. Rose created the first comparative public policy centre in a European university in 1976, applying concepts from the social sciences to concrete problems of government in Europe, USA, Japan, and Australia. For the past decade, he has led a unique programme of survey research examining mass response to the double transformation of the state and the market in 16 post- Communist European countries, and is now collaborating with institutes in new democracies in Latin America and Africa on similar projects. Prof. Rose took his B A at Johns Hopkins Un i ver s i ty and studied for a year at the London School o f Economics. He had worked as a reporter for the Pulitzer-founded St. Louis Post-Dispatch before taking his doctorate at Oxford University. He is currently professor of politics and public policy and director o f the Centre for the Study o f Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde in the UK . Wei Lun Lecture Probes Income-Schooling Relationship P rof. Orley Ashenfelter, Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor o f Economics and director of the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University, gave a lecture entitled ' How Large Is the Economic Payoff to Education?' in his capacity as Wei Lun V i s i t i ng Professor to the Un i ve r s i ty on 12th December 2000. He reviewed in his lecture the evidence on the relationship between education and income, trying to demonstrate the causal effect of education on income. Prof. Ashenfelter has been editor of American Economic Review for the past 15 years. His research has spanned a broad array of topics in the economic analysis of labour markets. He is regarded as the originator of the so-called 'natural experiments' approach, which has been used to assess the potential of education for reducing income disparities between the rich and the poor and to infer causality about economic relationships. Prof. C.N.Yang Wins King Faisal Prize of Science P rof. C.N. Yang, Distinguished Professor-at-Large at the University, is a co- winner of the Ki ng Faisal International Prize for Science for 2001. The announcement was made on 12th December 2000 by HRH Prince Khaled Al Faisal, director-general of the Ki ng Faisal Foundation in Riyadh. Prof. Yang is lauded as one of the most eminent contemporary physicists whose wo rk has contributed significantly to the understanding of the nature of matter itself and the forces that act upon it. One of the world's richest and most prestigious prizes, the K i ng Faisal International Prize carries a cash award of US$200,000 for each o f the five categories of Service to Islam, Islamic Studies, Arabic Literature, Medicine, and Science. The award winner also receives a 22-carat gold medallion and a certificate. Engineering Faculty Honours Achievers T he Faculty of Engineering held its second annual awards presentation ceremony on 25th November 2000 to honour the outstanding performance o f both teachers and students in the year 1999-2000. Pro f. R i cha rd Ho, University registrar, was invited to officiate at the ceremony. Awards presented included the Faculty Exemplary Teaching Award wh i ch gives open recognition to ou t s t and i ng teachers selected through a process that i nvo l ved student participation. This year, 10 teachers were selected for the award. They are Prof. Cham Wai-kuen, Prof. Chang Ming-yuen, Prof. Cheng Chun-hung, Prof. Lee Ho-man, Prof. Lee Tong, Prof. Liao Wei-hsin, Prof. Lui Chi-shing, Prof. Wei Keh-wei, Prof. Wong Tien-tsin, and Prof. Yan Houmin. Students on the Dean's List were presented with certificates of merit on the same occasion. Seventy-six undergraduate students wi th a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.5 or above and 27 Master's students with a GPA of 3.6 or above were on the list this year. Two postgraduate students were also honoured for their outstanding theses. As the faculty w i l l be celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2001, a series of activities have been organized. This includes the Faculty Tenth Anniversary Logo Design Competition, won by a final-year student in computer engineering. Prof. Richard Ho Unveiling the Mask of Translation P rof. Serena Jin delivered her professorial inaugural lecture entitled 'Knowing Translation's True Face: Reflections on the Nature of Translation' on 12th December 2000 in L i Koon Chun Hall. In her lecture, Prof. Jin pointed out that 30 years ago, people had l i t t le knowledge of translation, and it was rarely discussed. Th i r t y years later, many theorists talk about it but no one can agree on what it is. She then went on to discuss the nature of translation in order to provide the foundation for further discussion. Prof. Jin graduated from the English Depa r tment o f Chung Ch i Co l l ege, ob t a i ned her M A f r om Wash i ng t on University and her doctorate f r om the University of Paris, Sorbonne. She is one o f the f ounde rs o f the T r ans l a t i on Department at the University, and has been engaged in the teaching and practice o f translation for some 30 years. She was president of the Hong Kong Translation Society from 1990 to 1992 and is currently a council member o f the Translators' Association o f China. Prof. Jin has also published many books of creative writing, as we ll as books on the theory and practice of translation. She was made an OBE in June 1997 in recognition of her contribution to the promotion of translation in Hong Kong. (From left) Prof. Arthur K.C. Li, vice- chancellor, Prof. Serena Jin, and Prof. S. T. Kwok, dean of arts