The NTU Sports Center reverberated with the NTU School Spirit as the university celebrated its birthday during the 87th Anniversary Celebration Ceremony on November 15. With NTU President Pan-Chyr Yang personally presiding over the event, the university recognized nine distinguished alumni and presented this year's Honors Students, Student Social Contribution Awards, and Outstanding Youth Awards. On hand to celebrate with the NTU community were former NTU presidents as well as returning alumni and honored guests from Taiwan and around the world.

Each year during the Celebration Ceremony, NTU honors around nine of our alumni with Distinguished Alumni Awards in recognition of the important contributions they have made to both the university and society.  This year’s award recipients in the four categories include: in the Arts and Humanities, Chao-Cheng Chung (Department of Chinese Literature) and Hsiu-Mei Chen (pen name Lucy Chen, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature); in Academics, Chain-Tsuan Liu (Department of Mechanical Engineering), Alice Sun-Yung Chang (Department of Mathematics), and Soo-Chen Cheng (Department of Chemistry); in Business, Hsien-Chang Chen (Department of Chemical Engineering), Ming-Chung Tsai (Department of Law), and Wen-Hann Wang (Department of Electrical Engineering); and in Public Service, Liang-Cheng Han (Department of Medicine).

Chosen for the exceptional ways in which they have demonstrated concern for society and worked for the benefit of others, the recipients of this year’s Student Social Contribution Awards were Chi-June Jung of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Huan-Po Lin of the College of Management, and Yu-Shan Lin of the Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development.  Meanwhile, Outstanding Youth Awards were awarded to 14 students who have demonstrated exceptional moral integrity while producing remarkable learning achievements.

In addition to the 87th NTU Anniversary Celebration Ceremony, the entire month of November featured a diverse offering of anniversary activities.  Besides holding the long-term exhibition “Invisible and Visible NTU,” the Gallery of NTU History also extended its operating hours to until after dark under the theme Starry Night.  NTU Press introduced its new NTU anniversary souvenirs at the NTU Press Bookstore in the Gallery of NTU History and presented a lecture series on the NTU Museums System.  NTU Library teamed up with the Taiwan Photo Museum in arranging an exhibition of old photographs depicting Taipei City as well as the NTU campus of yesteryear.

These activities and more, including musical performances, art lectures and exhibitions, alumni lectures, and guided campus tours, filled NTU’s anniversary month with a festive atmosphere as members of the NTU family, old and new, from Taiwan and abroad, as well as members of the general public joined together in celebrating the past, present, and future of the oldest as well as most prestigious university in Taiwan.