On March 25, SCU held a meeting for liberal arts chair professors in Mingde building of Wangjiang campus. Chairman Wang Jianguo of the university council, President Li Yanrong, vice presidents Zhang Lin and Yao Leye, and chair professors Ren Xiaoming, Chen Xuebin, Li Shuicheng, Zhang Fa, Xiong Chengyu, Lv Jianfu and Fang Ning attended the meeting. The meeting was presided over by Zhang Lin.
Chairman Wang and President Li issued the SCU appointment letter of liberal arts chair professorship for the seven professors. They are welcome to join Sichuan University full-time, contribute to the prosperity and development of Philosophy and social sciences as well as the development of a world-class university.
Professor Ren Xiaoming, chief expert of the textbook Logic, vice president of the Chinese Association of Logic and professor of Nankai University, expressed his gratitude for the engagement and trust of SCU. He said that the Philosophy Department of SCU has a long history and profound foundation. As a new member of the Philosophy Department, he will give full play to his own advantages, work with colleagues to build a team of the philosophy discipline with SCU characteristics, promote the integration of Philosophy and other disciplines, and make new breakthroughs in major projects and key fields. Meanwhile, he will train young reserve talent and promote the quality and sustainable development of Philosophy at SCU.
Prof. Chen Xuebin, a well-known scholar in the field of Finance in China and professor of Fudan University, said in his speech that it is a great honor of him to return to the alma mater and a great responsibility for him to give back to SCU for his training. He said that SCU’s applied economics majors have a good foundation, and he suggested that the university further increase its support for the development of applied economics disciplines, build an interdisciplinary research and teaching platform of "information + finance", and lead the development of Finance of Sichuan University. At the same time, we should be geared to the main battlefield of national economy and set up teams to make breakthroughs in major projects.
Li Shuicheng, executive director of the Society for Chinese Archaeology and professor of Peking University, said in his speech that SCU has a first-class Archaeology and has always been in a leading position in southwest archaeology, Tibetan archaeology and so forth. He suggested that SCU’s Archaeology should constantly augment its own advantages, further strengthen cooperation with national and local cultural units and museums, and play a greater role in archaeological research in Sanxingdui, Chengdu-Chongqing region, Southern Silk Road and Southeast Asia.
Zhang Fa, vice president of the Chinese Aesthetics Association and professor of Zhejiang Normal University, said in his speech that as an alumnus of SCU, he was honored to be employed as a liberal arts chair professor in his alma mater. SCU’s Chinese is a grade A discipline. He suggested that SCU further encourage teachers to keep track of important academic research fields, promote the transformation of liberal arts from quantity accumulation to quality improvement, and promote the overall progress of liberal arts from excellence to excellence.
Xiong Chengyu, a foreign member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and professor of Tsinghua University, said in his speech that SCU took the lead in employing liberal arts chair professors across the country, which is not only an innovation in personnel system, but also an important measure for the prosperity and development of Philosophy and social sciences. As one of the first batch of liberal arts chair professors, I will take advantage of my academic leading role and lead the high-quality development of the discipline. He suggested that SCU should vigorously strengthen the development of new liberal arts, constantly deepen the integration of Humanities and social sciences, other disciplines and social development, and further intensify the originality, difference and uniqueness of Humanities and social sciences research.
Prof. Lv Jianfu of Shanxi Normal University, a famous scholar in the field of Chinese Tantrism, expressed his gratitude for the engagement and trust of SCU. He suggested that SCU intensify the integration of religious studies and information technology to make greater contribution to the development of national religious cause.
Prof. Fang Ning, former director of the Institute of Political Science, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, put forward valuable suggestions on the development of Political Science at SCU. He said that the Political Science of Sichuan University has an excellent faculty with strong plasticity. As a chair professor, he will focus on cultivating more young and middle-aged talent for the university, leading the discipline to make the voice of Sichuan University on a more mainstream platform. He suggested that SCU further consolidate the resources of Political Science, pool talent and train the team through major projects and topics.
In his speech, Li Yanrong, on behalf of SCU, expressed warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to the first batch of seven chair professors of liberal arts. He said that all of you are famous liberal arts professors in different professional fields, who have important influence in your respective disciplines. The participation of well-known experts in SCU plays a leading role in the prosperity and development of Humanities and social sciences. Last year, SCU implemented three measures: enhancing the liberal arts base, cultivating new platforms, and training new schools of liberal arts. On top of those measures, the university made, at the end of last year, a plan to introduce liberal arts chair professors and hinge the breakthrough of liberal arts development on high-end talent. This is not a transient plan, but a decisive move in accordance to the special project "mutual learning across civilizations and global governance" in the "14th five-year plan" and "Innovation 2035" five pilot plans of the university.
After responding to the remarks and suggestions of each of the seven chair professors, President Li noted that SCU would consider the insights of experts carefully and absorb them into the development plan of the 14th five-year plan and the liberal arts in the university in order to promote SCU’s liberal arts to a higher level. He also hoped that all the famous experts and scholars at the meeting can give full play to their academic influence and leading role, and make more contributions to promoting the discipline development, the development of young and middle-aged teams and the cultivation of students. In the meantime, the university should do its best to ensure the service, and provide all experts with good working and living conditions and health care.
In his speech, Wang Jianguo expressed his gratitude to all the liberal arts chair professors for joining Sichuan University on a full-time basis. He hoped that all experts will continue to learn about Sichuan University, become the leading scholars of SCU’s liberal arts, and lead the academic teams to carry out academic research. He stressed that SCU gives a high priority to the management and service of talent, and the personnel department has set up an expert service office to guarantee service for experts and talent, so that experts can devote themselves to scientific research without worries. He also hoped that all experts would play a leading role and work together with the university and colleges to enhance the reputation of liberal arts of Sichuan University.
The Chinese names begin with family name in this report.
