In the morning of May 16th, Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee (Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Marshall University) visited SHNU, accompanied by Mr. Guodong HUANG (International Program Coordinator and Chinese Program Director at Marshall University).
Prof. Mingjun JIANG expressed a warm welcome to Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee and other members of Marshall University delegation, and introduced SHNU briefly to the guests, including SHNU's disciplinary characteristics, its philosophy of Sino-international cooperation and others. In particular, Prof. Mingjun JIANG pointed out that SHNU has been committed to promoting exchanges in humanities and education between China and the U.S., especially with its Sino-US cooperation undergraduate-level programs collaborated with Weber State University (WSU), the University of Dayton, etc., the history of which date back to over 20 years ago. In 2023, SHNU achieved QAA accreditation; in 2024, SFB SHNU's iSER was officially accepted by AACSB International, which was a milestone on SFB's journey pursuing AACSB international accreditation. Being aware that Marshall University became AACSB-accredited early in 1995, Prof. Mingjun JIANG expressed hope that SHNU could learn from Marshall University's valuable experience, rely on Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee's support, and optimize SFB's process in seeking AACSB accreditation. In addition, Prof. Mingjun JIANG hoped that this meeting would facilitate establishment of a multi-dimensioned and in-depth university-level cooperation between the two universities, in an effort to advance common development of both universities regarding academic researches, discipline construction, faculty and student exchanges and other aspects.
Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee expressed heartfelt gratitude to SHNU's warm welcome. He stated that Marshall University was founded in 1837, which now consists of 12 colleges/schools, and owns a student body totaling 12,000 students. Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee said that he had served as the Dean of Lewis College of Business at Marshall University for 7 years before he was appointed the Provost of Marshall University. According to Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee, the Lewis College of Business at Marshall University is highly internationalized, with 80% of its faculty body international ones (20% from Asia); additionally, the College is going to appoint a Chinese American scholar as its new dean, and the College expects to see more and more Chinese faculty members to deliver courses and engage in research works there. What's more, as stated by Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee, the College of Health Professions at Marshall University is very strong, with 3 affiliated hospitals established; recently, Marshall University set up a Division of Aviation, which is equipped with several small aircrafts; what's more, Marshall University is famous for its programs in sports, with stories of one of its university teams adapted into a Hollywood movie. Notably, Marshall University has established 10 research centers through cooperation among its 12 colleges and schools via inter-colleges/school and transdisciplinary approaches, promoting researches in various areas, such as: innovation and entrepreneurship, aviation and aerospace, behavior management, education development, sustainability, climate change, digital management, social media and so on, which are directly managed by the university. Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee indicated that after the pandemic, he had gained deeper understanding in the importance of face-to-face communication, and he believed this meeting would be especially significant for both universities to engage in more in-depth exchanges in the future.
Followingly, Prof. Jianghui LIU (Dean of SFB) introduced SFB to the guests with emphases on SFB's characteristic of Sino-international cooperation, discipline structure and major offerings, and progress in pursuing AACSB international accreditation; furthermore, Prof. Jianghui LIU put forward some ideas for future cooperation with Marshall University regarding programs for international students, faculty exchanges, etc. Prof. Jianghui LIU said that it was delighted to having met Marshall University representatives at "2023 AACSB Asia Pacific Annual Conference", and SHNU gladly welcomes Prof. Avinandan Mukherjee's visit this time. Prof. Jianghui LIU believed that in the future, the two universities would engage in high-quality cooperation in multiple respects.
After this meeting, representatives of the two universities confirmed intention in signing an inter-university cooperation agreement, and planned to unfold comprehensive cooperation in multiple fields such as business education, education, sports, etc.
(Contribution: SFB International Affairs Department)
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