Faculty of Tongji University has witnessed the consistent inspiring presence of Professor Shen Zuyan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, in teaching and research over the last six decades. A meeting was held by Department of Construction Engineering, College of Civil Engineering to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Shen's teaching career on November 28th. About 100 people, including his previous students and teacher and student representatives from the Department, gathered together to share their sentiments of deep respect and appreciation for his personality as well as his significant contributions that the academician has put forward in his teaching and research.
Present at the symposium were Yang Xianjin, Chairman of Tongji University Council; Pei Gang, President of Tongji University; Wu Qidi, former Deputy Minister of Education and former President of Tongji University; Zhou Jialun, former Chairman of Tongji University Council; Prof. Dong Shilin, Shen’s classmate, also a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering who is with Zhejiang University, and Chen Yiyi , Executive Vice President of Tongji University.
Prof. Shen expressed his gratitude to the Department for organizing the celebration and launching the publication of the festschrift. He felt strongly the passage of time when recalling his sixty years in teaching. He said he was lucky in spending his student life under the guidance of such prominent teachers as Li Guohao and Wang Dashi at Tongji University, which helped him lay a solid foundation in civil engineering and paved the way for his further academic development. According to the academician, a teacher should assume a triple identity of teacher, researcher and engineer when engaged in the teaching of engineering courses. As a supervisor, his devotion to teaching was well paid off since his students always had excellent ideas to inspire him. As a researcher, his advice was to make unremitting efforts once the objective was made clear. “I always want to be as busy as a bee. In particular, I’m more than willing to do anything within my capabilities so long as it can accelerate the development of our university and our department,” he said.
Prof. Shen Zuyan, who majored in civil Construction Engineering, graduated from Tongji University in July, 1955 and started teaching there thenceforth. Throughout the last 60 years, he has acted as the Vice President of Tongji University, Dean of the Graduate School, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, while holding important posts in various academic organizations, both at home and abroad. He also has made remarkable contributions in multiple fields, ranging from talent cultivation, scientific research, educational management to international exchanges, the development of steel structure industry, the cooperation among enterprises, universities and research institutes, and major engineering construction. Over 130 postgraduates, including PhD students taught by Shen have since become core members or leaders of multifarious organizations, including universities and colleges, design institutes, construction companies, research and development institutions, real estate companies and government bodies at different levels.
The Festschrift in Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Professor Shen Zuya's Teaching Career, a Virtuous Teacher in Pursuit of Academic Achievements, which was compiled by the Department of Construction Engineering of College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, and published by Tongji University Press, was issued on that day. The festschrift not only just collects Prof. Shen’s academic papers published in professional journals, but also contains how highly the industry, media and students think of him, and above all, reflects his ideas regarding engineering education and reform, innovative talent cultivation, as well as the development and practice of production, education and research in steel structure industry, aiming to bring some enlightenment to education and development of civil engineering in China.
Translated by May Language Studio Based upon
http://news.tongji.edu.cn/classid-6-newsid-49550-t-show.html
