Prof. Mark P. Becker, the President of Georgia State University (GSU), U.S.A., and Academician Michael Ming-Chiao Lai, the President of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan, together signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on Nov. 19th. Both of them wish to have a closer relationship in the future and to create a better environment with outstanding achievement in higher education.

They both agreed to establish and encourage mutually beneficial scientific, technological, educational and other relations, including exchange of academic staff members for the purpose of research, teaching and the presentation of special courses in their fields of specialization, student exchange and study abroad programs, establishment of joint research programs, collaboration on third party funded educational or economic assistance activities, exchange of postgraduate students for specific research projects or courses of interest and importance, exchange of scientific and educational literature produced by either or both parties, as well as the exchange of material on the most relevant and topical researches, and organization of conferences, seminars and symposia of mutual interest to the institutions.

President Becker said that Georgia State University is located in the south of US and there are many Chinese there. The weather over there is just like that of southern Taiwan, which will make Taiwanese students feel familiar and easy to adapt to if they go there to study. The University is strong in business, law, and health science. Though the GSU does not have a medical school, they have top research institutions specializing in neuroscience, biology, and disaster research. The GSU will collaborate with NCKU mainly in biochemistry. They have Chinese faculty members teaching biology, mathematics, and computer science, and it is because of their introduction that GSU seeks to extend their academic ties with NCKU and make this signing of MOC possible.

“I am also glad to sign this MOC today. It will be a good opportunity for NCKU to cooperate with GSU. I hope there will be more chances for our students to study in GSU,” said President Lai.

About President Mark P. Becker (ref: http://www.gsu.edu/president/)

Prof. Mark P. Becker, the seventh president of Georgia State University, began his tenure on January 1, 2009.

A biostatistician, public health researcher and academic leader, Becker, 50, had served as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of South Carolina before assuming Georgia State's presidency.

Prior to that appointment, Becker spent three years at the University of Minnesota as a biostatistics professor, dean of the School of Public Health and assistant vice president of Public Health, Preparedness and Emergency Response.

From 1989 to 2000, Becker was a professor and associate dean for academic affairs at University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. He also has held academic posts at the University of Washington, the University of Florida and Cornell University.

Becker earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics (Magna Cum Laude) from Towson State University and his doctorate in statistics from The Pennsylvania State University.

As provost at University of South Carolina, Becker had been responsible for formulating and implementing academic policy, coordinating the university’s teaching, research and public service programs and allocating resources in all academic areas, among other roles.

Internationally recognized as a researcher in biostatistics and public health sciences, Becker has published extensively in leading journals and has been principal investigator on research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and co-investigator on numerous research grants from the Centers for Disease Control, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and other granting agencies. Becker has served on a number of editorial boards, was co-editor of Sociological Methodology, and has been a guest editor for Sociological Methods and Research and for the Journal of the American Statistical Association.

During his career, Becker has been involved in numerous professional associations, and he is a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Statistical Association.

Becker, who is married to Laura Voisinet and has two children, Matthew, 22, and Julia, 18, said he enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and whitewater rafting and “experiencing and learning about new cultures.”

He said he will bring to the Georgia State presidency “energy, a passion for and a commitment to public higher education as well as significant academic leadership experience in both established and up and coming public research universities.”

About Georgia State University

(ref.: http://www.gsu.edu/factsheet.html and http://www.gsu.edu/governance_strategy.html)

Georgia State University (GSU), founded in 1913 and located in Atlanta, Georgia, is the Southeast's leading urban research institution. It is on the list of the top 100 public universities for doctoral degrees awarded. More than 250 fields of study are offered through some 55 accredited degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, specialist and doctoral levels. Students may enroll in day or evening classes and in part-time or full-time study.

Georgia State University is part of The University System of Georgia, which began operation in 1932, and is among the oldest unified statewide systems of public higher education in the United States and includes all state-operated universities, four-year colleges and two-year colleges in Georgia.

Every five years, Georgia State University develops a new Strategic Plan. A focus on quality is imperative. This focus should lead to assisting the state and the nation through quality graduates, economic development, and serving the public interest. The University will achieve its goals through the continual pursuit of excellence in its instructional and strategic research programs.

An annual Action Plan derives from the current five-year Strategic Plan and delineates the strategies to be executed in a given year to achieve the longer term goals of the five-year plan. An annual Action Plan also provides commentary on the progress made during the previous year in improving quality aspects of the university.

About National Cheng Kung University (NCKU):

NCKU is located in the ancient city of Tainan, the historical and ancient cultural capital city of Taiwan, which boasts more than 50 national relics sanctioned by the government and is approximately 250 kilometers south of Taipei. It is connected to all major cities in Taiwan by the recently initiated state-of-the-art Taiwan High Speed Rail. Further, this historical heritage is the pride of Tainan City and represents a rich cultural resource to NCKU. The technological sectors in the Southern Taiwan Science Park offer students at NCKU with a stage to apply what they have learned into practice.

With three quarters of a century of distinguished history, with well over 130,000 powerful alumni now dotting the globe, many have achieved supreme successes in arts, business, education, science, technology and healthcare and are ready and willing to assist the 22,000 academic selective students and 1200 academic faculty members. Currently, both have an international flavor, with enormous regional support, and there is a permeating culture of proactive intellectual growth on the world’s stage NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan, has evolved from its engineering genesis into a powerful and comprehensive research international university in the Asia Pacific.

Since NCKU’s establishment in 1931, it has developed into a research intensive and comprehensive university with integrated academic fields in nine colleges: Liberal Arts, Sciences, Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Planning & Design, Management, Social Sciences, Medicine, and Bioscience & Biotechnology. NCKU currently offers 40 undergraduate programs (excluding the Program of Bachelor’s Degree), 78 master’s degree programs, 54 doctoral programs and 20 master’s degree programs for working professionals.

Photo: http://www.cna.com.tw/postwrite/cvpread.aspx?ID=44383