President of Peking University receives honorary doctoral degree from UA

Qifeng Zhou, president of the prestigious Peking University in China, received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from The University of Akron in a special ceremony held May 17 at the Goodyear Polymer Center.

On hand to present the degree to Zhou were UA President Luis M. Proenza, Board of Trustees Chair Phillip S. Kaufmann, trustees Kevin O. Thompson and Nicholas C. York, and David B. Baker, interim senior vice president and provost and chief operating officer, and other dignitaries from Peking University.

There is a long history of collaboration between UA and Peking University, including a 15-year-old joint Ph.D program in polymer science. The partnership was further strengthened in July 2009 with the signing by Presidents Proenza and Zhou of a broadened educational cooperation agreement between the two institutions that now extends to law, education, engineering and the general sciences and includes such initiatives as joint research projects, student exchange programs, visiting scholars and cultural programming.

Zhou expressed his gratitude to Proenza, Kaufmann, Baker and other distinguished guests for choosing him to receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters for his significant contributions to the field of polymer science and polymer engineering.

Long-standing relationship honored

“I am very proud to be a member of The University of Akron’s distinguished academic community which carries such high esteem in America for its many contributions and outstanding achievements,” Zhou said. “It is of special happiness to me to as we continue the long-standing relationship between the University of Akron and Peking University. Our ties are stronger because they are rooted in a shared sense of academic excellence and global responsibility.”

Both Proenza and Zhou spoke of the challenges facing higher education today particularly in an era of globalization.

“The greatest challenge to research-intensive universities is the convergence of globalization and the loss of distinction,” Zhou said. “We must keep a balance between globalization of education and our economies with the ability of keeping our own identities and the traditional values that guide our institutions.”

In praising Zhou for his contributions to the field of polymer science and global higher education, Proenza spoke of Peking University as an aspirational model of outstanding education and research, Peking’s relevance and connectivity to its community, and the university’s highly productive faculty with strengths in science and engineering as well as culture-enhancing work in education, arts and the humanities.

Two universities have similar missions

“President Zhou understands that his university is an economic anchor of its community and a hub of educational knowledge, which has made him a leader in global higher education,” Proenza said. “Like the University of Akron throughout the years, Peking University has served as a transformational agent by building on strong ties with its community and well-established strengths in highly relevant innovation.”

Proenza also pointed out other similarities between UA and Peking University – a beautiful campus in an urban area, world-renown in polymer science education and research, and elements of the “Akron Model” — relevance, productivity and connectivity — in which both universities seek to be a “university of a new type,” with a real interdisciplinary approach to solving the world’s problems through research and, through teaching, creating people “with a high level of specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the global marketplace.”

Media contact: Laura M. Massie, 330-972-6476 or massie1@uakron.edu