FASS Advisory Board Member Mrs Chua-Lim Receives Public Administration Gold Medal 2020

NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences’ Advisory Board Member, Mrs Chua-Lim Yen Ching, was conferred the Public Administration Gold Medal at this year’s National Day Awards by the Prime Minister’s Office for her numerous contributions to education in Singapore.

Mrs Chua-Lim is the Deputy Director-General of Education (Professional Development) and Executive Director of the Academy of Singapore Teachers Directorate at the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore. This latest award follows the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) she received in 1999, and the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2017.

Her career in education spans 37 years, during which she has served as a teacher, principal and policy maker. Highlights include her leadership, as Deputy Director of the Sciences Branch of the Ministry of Education of Singapore, in the development of primary to pre-university curricula for mathematics, science, technical and physical education from 1998 to 2002, and the pivotal role she played as the founding principal of the NorthLight School, an institution offering enhanced vocational education from 2006 to 2011. She is now helming advancements in the professional development of teachers in Singapore.

At this year’s National Day Awards, Mrs Chua-Lim joins the ranks of illustrious NUS notables such as Former Deputy Prime Minister and current Senior Legal Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prof S. Jayakumar, who received the highest Order of Temasek (with High Distinction) honour, and Prof Wang Gungwu, FASS Professor and former Chairman of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy as well as the East Asian Institute, who was awarded The Distinguished Service Order.

Other FASS awardees include the following:-

Public Administration Medal (Bronze)
Prof Lionel Wee Hock Ann, Vice Dean (Research) and Professor, Department of English Language & Literature

Commendation Medal
Ms Loo Bee Bee, Associate Director, Department of Psychology

Efficiency Medal
Ms Jane Ong Pei Hoon, Management Assistant Officer, Department of Sociology

Long Service Medal

  • Prof Ong Chang Woei, Department of Chinese Studies
  • Assoc Prof Loon Seong Yun, Department of English Language & Literature
  • Ms Sakinah Bte Yusof, Management Assistant Officer, Department of Geography
  • Ms Jasmine Sim Bee Lay, Management Assistant Officer, Department of History
  • Assoc Prof Chen An, Department of Political Science
  • Assoc Prof Irving Chan Johnson, Department of Southeast Asian Studies
  • Assoc Prof Narayanan Ganapathy, FASS Associate Dean, and Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

 

Eminent NUS historian Professor Wang Gungwu receives prestigious Tang Prize

The 2020 Tang Prize in Sinology has been awarded to Professor Wang Gungwu, University Professor at NUS Arts and Social Sciences and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Chinese diaspora.

Announced on 20 June 2020 by the Tang Prize Foundation, this prestigious award was conferred on Prof Wang in recognition of his trailblazing and dissecting insights on the history of the Chinese world order, overseas Chinese, and Chinese migratory experience.

Prof Wu Gangwu
The 2020 Tang Prize in Sinology has been awarded to Professor Wang Gungwu, University Professor at NUS Arts and Social Sciences and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Chinese diaspora

As a leading scholar on Sino-Southeast Asian historical relations, Prof Wang developed a unique approach to understanding China by scrutinising its long and complex relationship with its southern neighbours. His erudition and critical discernment have significantly enriched the explanation of China’s changing place in the world, traditionally developed from an internalist perspective or in relation to the West.

Prof Wang said, “It is a great honour to be awarded the Tang Prize in Sinology. When I was a student, Sinology was part of Oriental Studies and associated with classical studies, guoxue (国学) in China, Hanxue (汉学) in Japan and Europe. It was centred on ancient philology as the foundation for the study of literature, philosophy and history. The four previous awardees, Yu Ying-shih at Princeton, Ted de Bary at Columbia, Shiba Yoshinobu at Tokyo and Stephen Owen at Harvard, started with the study of classical Chinese. Yu and de Bary went on to enrich our knowledge of intellectual history while Shiba did the same for social and economic history. Although Owen is best known for his contributions to literature, his work on literary theory has illuminated key features of the historical imagination.”

“I am a historian who believes that China’s present cannot be separated from her total past. Living all my life outside China, I am fascinated by the way China had fallen and risen several times. Each time that happened had made a difference to the course of world history. For us to understand why that could happen requires us to go beyond the humanities to the social sciences. I am gratified that modern Sinology now recognises the centrality of shi (史) in Chinese civilisation,” he added.

One of Asia’s most important intellectuals
Prof Wang Gungwu has been University Professor at NUS Arts and Social Sciences since 2007, and Emeritus Professor of the Australian National University since 1988. He is Foreign Honorary Member of the History Division of the American Academy of Arts and Science and former President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Prof Wang received his BA and MA from University of Malaya (UM) in Singapore, and PhD at SOAS, London.

Spending much of his life immersed in different cultures gives Prof Wang diverse personae as a scholar. He is an “insider” in the academic tradition of Chinese Confucianism and British elite education, and an “outsider” in the interpretation of China’s perception of the world. His original approach to understanding China from the southern perspective is in part a natural choice given his personal experience. This same experience provided him with abundant inspiration in his formative years as he matured into an authoritative voice in the analysis of China’s worldview.

Besides being an outstanding scholar, Prof Wang has been an inspiring educator since he embarked on an academic career first at UM and subsequently at the Australian National University, before making his mark as Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong from 1986 to 1995, Chairman of the Institute of East Asian Political Economy from 1996 to 1997, and Director of the NUS East Asian Institute from 1997 to 2007.

At 89 years old, Prof Wang is still very prolific as a scholar. “I am writing on Chinese hopes and fears following China’s opening and reforms, focusing on the period after the People’s Republic of China’s entry into the United Nations in October 1971,” he shared.

And when asked how COVID-19 has impacted him, Prof Wang said, “COVID-19 has moved me away from my routines and made me parcel my life more carefully and take into account how much time I might have to get my work completed.”

The biannual Tang Prize consists of four categories, namely Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology and Rule of Law. It aims to promote the interaction and cooperation between cultural and technological research so as to find a 21st century path to the sustainable development of the world.

See citation for the prize.

This article was first published on 22 June 2020 in NUS News at https://news.nus.edu.sg/highlights/eminent-nus-historian-professor-wang-gungwu-receives-prestigious-tang-prize.

Kent Ridge Alumni Family Day on 17 August 2019

CALLING ALL STUDENTS, STAFF AND ALUMNI!

Kent Ridge Alumni Family Day (KRAFD) on Saturday, 17 August!

Themed Fiesta On the Green, NUS’ biggest homecoming will commemorate Singapore’s Bicentennial, while welcoming home alumni, students, faculty, staff and their families back to the Kent Ridge Campus.

Come be dazzled by the star-studded line-up of celebrity alumni performers including Joanna Dong (Arts & Social Sciences ’04) who came in third in Sing! China 2017.  Other exciting activities include a showcase of autonomous and virtual technologies, hands-on stations at Student Life Fair, and networking at the Faculty booths.  The festivities will culminate in the largest outdoor movie screening on campus of the popular animated film, Smallfoot.

Date:        Saturday, 17 August 2019
Time: 5.00pm – 9.30pm
Venue: NUS University Town
Note: Please note that photography and videography will be carried out throughout the event. The NUS Office of Alumni Relations may use some or all of these images in its print publications, digital platforms and/or marketing channels.  

Professor Ted Hopf’s work wins the 2018 Albie award

Congratulations to Prof Ted Hopf from the Department of Political Science on winning the Albie award from the Washington Post for his journal article, jointly written with Bentley B. Allan and Srdjan Vucetic, entitled “The Distribution of Identity and the Future of International Order: China’s Hegemonic Prospects.”

The Albie award recognises the best work on political economy in 2018. Named after the late, great political economist Albert O. Hirschman, the winning works are curated by Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a regular contributor at The Washington Post. According to Prof Drezner, “The important thing about an Albie-winning piece of work is that it forces the reader to think about the past, present or future politics of the global economy in a way that can’t be un-thought.”

Here’s what Prof Drezner said about the article:

“There has been so much written about the liberal international order this past year. Its critics are piling on, and even its most enthusiastic cheerleaders have doubts. This article, however, suggests that the current hegemonic order is likely to be far more resilient than the pessimists believe. This is because the core ideas animating the current order — democracy and free markets — have far more popular support across the globe than elites tend to assume. Any Chinese effort to challenge or supplant the current order is therefore unlikely to gain many adherents.”

On winning the award, Prof Hopf said, “It is always most gratifying when one’s academic work becomes part of the broader policy debate, especially when it concerns an issue of such contemporary significance as the rise of China.”

Click here to see the other Albie award winners.

Poorer families use more water to keep cool: Study (21 Dec, Home, Page B2)

The Straits Times

It was reported that a study conducted by Associate Professor Alberto Salvo from the Department of Economics at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has found that lower-income households tend to use more water when the weather is hot, while higher-income households consume more electricity. The study tracked the water and electricity bills of about 130,000 households living in apartments from September 2012 to December 2015. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications on 20 December 2018, can contribute towards improving demand forecasting for water and electricity in water-stressed cities in tropical Asia, where incomes are rising. It can also facilitate better design and allocation of water and electricity grids.

Read the article here.

Mangroves can help countries mitigate their carbon emissions, study

This was a report on a study by researchers from the Department of Geography at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences which found that coastal vegetation such as mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes may be the most effective habitats to mitigate carbon emissions. The results indicate that nations with large coastlines could expand these ecosystems to further counteract their fossil fuel emissions. These findings were published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters on 24 October 2018.

University students studying regional languages up 10% from 5 years ago

According to Lianhe Zaobao on 9 October 2018, MOE reported that university students taking courses in ASEAN languages have gone up 10% compared to five years ago. Around 1,730 students at NUS, NTU and SMU took these courses last year, compared to around 1,550 in 2013. The languages include Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese.

Assoc Prof Titima Suthiwan, director of the NUS Centre for Language Studies, said the centre offers classes in those ASEAN languages. An average of 1,350 students take these classes each year. Courses in Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, and Thai languages have been popular with students in the past 10 years.

Tang Renxuan, a fourth-year student at NUS, became interested in learning ASEAN languages when she was doing voluntary work around the region in junior college. She is currently taking Southeast Asian Studies in NUS and is learning Thai , after completing a course in Bahasa Indonesia.

A/P Chris McMorran’s new podcast – This little dot we call home

Associate Professor Chris McMorran from the Department of Japanese Studies, together with a team of students, recently produced a podcast series called “Home on the Dot” and the project was featured in NUS News.

The podcast consists of 10 episodes, each revolving around a particular aspect of Singapore related to the idea of home, such as public housing and hawker centres.

The podcast is available at the Home on the Dot blog or via iTunes by searching for “Home on the Dot”. Six episodes, each about 20 to 25 minutes in length, have been posted, with another four to be shared in the weeks to come.

 

WP chief addresses grads at NUS commencement (20 Jul, Home, Page B4)

This was a report on the NUS commencement ceremony organised on 19 July 2018 for NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) graduates. The ceremony featured Mr Pritam Singh – an FASS alumnus and Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party – as guest speaker. About 470 political science, psychology and global studies graduates were conferred their degrees at the ceremony.

Click here to read the article.