HKUST Annual Report 2017-18

44 School of Humanities and Social Science ADVANCING THE NEXT GENERATION The Division of Social Science, with support from the Department of Mathematics, launched an undergraduate program in Quantitative Social Analysis, enrolling a founding cohort of 30 local and seven non-local students in Fall 2017. The School extended the curricular choices for students on the BSc in Global China Studies, with the Division of Social Science adding a Social Science track to complement the Integrated Humanities and Social Science track originally launched in 2011. BSc in Global China Studies graduates continued to do well in both job placement and further studies. Recent graduates secured employment with the Hong Kong government, banks, and trade organizations. They also gained admission to graduate/dual degree programs at Oxford University, Waseda University, and Chinese University of Hong Kong. The School’s postgraduate community saw doctoral graduates accept professorial track faculty positions at Jilin University (philosophy), Peking University (sociology), and the University of Bonn (economics). Master of Philosophy and taught postgraduate students went on to further studies with fully funded PhD and MPhil fellowships respectively at overseas institutions such as Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, New York University, Northwestern University, University of California-Davis, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Georgia, and Washington University St. Louis. Locally, they were selected for places at HKUST, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Baptist University. EMPOWERING A GLOBAL OUTLOOK The School is committed to creating non-local study opportunities conducive to students’ holistic growth, given the transformative role that such experiences can play in global competency. International and Mainland China activities encompass regular term exchange, summer or winter programs, and an on-campus quasi-exchange experience through the School-sponsored Summer Global Seminars. This past year, about 150 students enjoyed non-local study exposure in Euro-America (70%), Greater China (23%), and the rest of Asia (6%), with a choice of over 60 exchange destinations, split between School and University-level partners. Pioneering joint educational endeavors include three novel dual degree genres: accelerated, asymmetrical, and reciprocal. These programs enable the School to propel forward the frontiers of student experience with like-minded partners in Mainland China (13), Greater China (2) and Asia, and the US (1). Such initiatives typically start from explorative exchanges, moving on to summer programs, then joint student training programs and, eventually, integrated educational collaborations folded into the School’s Global China Studies online curriculum, as well as faculty teaching and research cooperation. EMINENT MINDS In the Division of Humanities, Prof. Christian DANIELS took up the post of Division Head on July 1, 2017, while Prof. Billy SO was appointed an IAS Senior Fellow from February 1, 2018, concurrent with his post of Chair Professor in the Division. Prof. Daisy DU spent the year at Harvard-Yenching Institute as a visiting scholar, helping to raise the Division and School’s profile in the US. She started her stay in August 2017 and will remain there until September 2018. Prof. Jenny SMITH, previously at Georgia Institute of Technology, received an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship for 2017-2019. In the Division of Social Science, economist Prof. HE Guojun was invited to join the World Economic Forum’s Young Scientists Community and represent the University at its Summer Davos Institute. Prof. He was also awarded the Gregory Chow Best Paper Award from the Chinese Economists Society at its 2018 North America Annual Conference. Sociologist Prof. WU Xiaogang was appointed the inaugural president of the International Chinese Sociological Association (formerly North American Chinese Sociologists Association). Prof. Erik BAARK (science and technology studies), Prof. DING Xueliang (sociology), and Prof. James KUNG (social science) became Professors Emeriti. IMPACTFUL INITIATIVES Arts events took place throughout the year. Prof. LIU Jianmei, a specialist in contemporary Chinese literature and gender studies, organized original creative writing and film events, including a two- day conference in May 2018 on “Science Fiction and Its Variations in the Sinophone World”, drawing a combined attendance of around 800. The School accelerated forward with a new bachelor program, distinctive global interaction, and creative local engagement